The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension
by VG Jekyll
Summary: After finding out yet another secret that has been kept from him, Harry blows up Dumbledore's office only to find himself -how cliché- in an Alternate Dimension where Neville is the Boy-Who-Lived. AU & Slash.
1. Hit The Floor

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Chapter beta-read by Vaughn

* * *

**1. Hit the Floor**

_I know I'll never trust a single thing you say  
You knew your lies would divide us but you lied anyway  
And all the lies have got you floating up above us all  
But what goes up has got to fall_

* * *

Harry Potter was not a happy little camper. He was, to be quite honest, pissed off and able to cause mass destruction if one were to even look funny in his direction. Fortunately for others, he really gave off that 'killing'-vibe, and thus people tended to stay far, far, _very_ far away from him.

However, since a certain Potions Professor stubbornly refused to let his day be ruined by the pesky little brat that was currently storming in his way, he made to intercept the boy.

"Mr. Potter! Wha-"

Mr. Potter just had pushed him into a wall without even touching the fore mentioned Potions Master, leaving the poor man to ponder on the fact of 'how' the Gryffindor could have done that.

Harry stormed further through the hallways till he was where he was supposed to be, and he stared penetratingly at the gargoyle that was guarding Albus' office.

The gargoyle stared back.

"Open up!" he ordered the stone monster, knowing that it would be useless to name a list of candy as Dumbledore had abandoned that way of security long ago.

The gargoyle didn't even blink, and Harry bared his teeth. "You get me in there, you stupid brainless rock--"

"Potter..."

Harry snapped his mouth shut, but didn't turn around. He kept his eyes fixed upon the gargoyle, wracking his brain for a possible password, but he recognized Snape's angry, stern voice.

"If you were planning to make me take points from Gryffindor, you have achieved your goal. Fifty points for your violent outburst..."

Harry spun around, still extremely frustrated and furious, and looked Snape in the eyes.

"Give me the password," he spat. The Potions Master remained unimpressed.

"... another ten points for your incredible rudeness..."

"Give me the password! NOW!"

"...and ten points for poisoning the school with your current mood."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I thought, referring to your preference for potions, you'd be fond of poison as well."

"Not one as ill brewed as this one," Snape responded just as luminously, but with an extra scratch to it.

Harry bared his teeth at the man, and Severus could swear that he heard the youth growl. "I don't have fucking time for this!" Harry spun around, turning his back to the Potions Master, and with a loud yell, made the lights in the hall turn off.

Snape quickly pulled out his wand and shouted the Lumos light showed an empty hallway, and he whirled around. Where was the annoying Potter boy? He stared suspiciously at the gargoyle. Could Potter have gone past it without Snape knowing it? He doubted it, but nevertheless his behaviour should be reported to the headmaster.

He stalked the last few steps over to the gargoyle, muttered the password, and was about to enter when a body bind hit him from behind.

Harry quickly stalked past his immobile form, muttering a soft, "Thanks for the password."

Harry stood still as the stairs moved him to the door of Dumbledore's office. Brimming with energy, almost making him shiver from the adrenaline, he growled disdainfully when he opened the door and saw that the headmaster wasn't there.

_How weak of you to avoid me, Albus. It's not fear that's keeping you from me, is it?_

The Gryffindor walked over to Dumbledore's big chair and flopped down on it. He placed his dirty black boots on the desk and looked around the room.

"Oi! Get your shoes off of there, you rude boy!" ordered one of the portraits.

"I place my boots wherever I want, painting." Harry narrowed his eyes and grinned. "At least I still have boots," he said, looking at a bust on a small pillar standing next to the portrait.

"Oh! How dare you! How dare you mock one of Hogwarts' greatest men?" the painting shouted in astonishment.

Harry laughed wickedly as he stood up and slowly walked over to the bust.

"One of Hogwarts' greatest men, you say?" he said, and with that he threw it off of its pillar. The statue shattered into pieces on the ground, and Harry picked up one of them. He held it in front of the wide eyes of the speechless portrait. "Great men don't let themselves get pushed around, painting."

Suddenly, there was a loud plopping noise, and the headmaster appeared in the room.

"Harry Potter..."

Harry stared with narrowed eyes at him. "That's my name…"

The old man stared back at him for a long moment, his eyes roving over his form and noticing the dirt on the young man's boots that could be found on the desk, too. He then averted his gaze to the pieces of marble on the ground that once had been a bust. He raised his hand and muttered an incarnation that should make the bust turn back to its unscathed state, but nothing happened, and he looked back up at Harry, surprised.

Harry grinned and crossed his arms, almost as if he was challenging the old man.

"I see…" Albus said gravely, and dropped heavily into a chair.

Harry stalked towards him, still with crossed arms, till he was standing next to the desk. This was all on purpose as the man would have to turn to the side to look him in the eyes. The maniacal grin transformed into a scowl.

"'I _am going to tell you everything, Harry',_" the emerald eyed boy quoted mockingly. "'_It is time for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry'._"

Albus seemed to search for words. "Harry, please listen to me--"

"No, Dumbledore! You listen to me!" Harry interrupted, and leaned over at him, his hands firmly resting on the desk's surface. "There was once a time that I would have believed everything you said. That has changed ever since fifth year and now it has disappeared wholly. I'm not going to be your pawn anymore!"

With these last words of his tirade, several objects in the office exploded due the force of his anger.

Dumbledore's eyes flashed around the room, inspecting the damage the boy had done. The old man looked worried and hurt at the same time. _I should not have let it come to this point..._

"Please, Harry, give me a chance."

"NO! How many chances have you ever given to me!" Harry exclaimed, radiating fury, filling the whole room with a tense atmosphere and making the objects shake in their places. Several of them fell over and crashed on the ground. It was like a volcano was about to explode, right there in the room.

"I don't want your words! I don't want your worries! I don't want your fake advice! Great men don't let themselves get pushed around, and I've been pushed around for too long! And what could I do? Nothing! I was too young! I didn't know!"

Harry pulled his wand out, pointing it at the headmaster.

At that moment, the office door burst open, and Snape marched into the room...

"Albus," he started, but as soon as he noticed Harry and the wand in the Gryffindor's hand, he whipped his own out and pointed it right back at him.

"What is going on here!" he demanded to know as Harry and he tried to stare each other down.

"None of your business, _Snivellus_!" Harry growled, but had to duck away as Snape threw a curse at him, angry at the usage of that particular nickname.

Dumbledore got up from his chair and worriedly watched the scene, knowing that something awful was about to happen.

And it did.

A stray curse from Harry hit an oil lamp on one of the many shelves, which melted onto another object, making them both topple over with their weight onto an old planet model. The model fell, but clung with one of its appendages onto the edge of the shelf. It bumped into a Pensieve on the shelf under it and clattered onto the ground, taking various other objects with it on its way down.

The noise was terrible. The dinging of iron objects that collided and the screaming of several of them made some glasslike bottles burst, and as if this was not dangerous enough, Snape and Harry, both obvious to all of that, got into a wand-lock.

The power crackled through the air, and then both duellers muttered an incarnation. Dumbledore watched, frozen onto the spot, how Harry's spell hit the Slytherin Potions Master dead-on, and how Snape's spell was avoided by a quick dive to the ground.

The Gryffindor was not lucky though. Snape's hex collided with the previously mentioned objects close behind Harry, and for a moment, they all seemed to implode. Then thousands of debris flew through the room like a fountain of sparkles in every direction.

When finally the room settled down, and peace seemed to have come again, Dumbledore looked around his office, shocked. Somewhere in a corner he could see the bloodied form of his Potions Professor. As he looked down at himself, he also noticed all the little debris in his skin, knowing it would start to hurt very badly when he was over the shock. But when he checked for Harry at the spot where the boy had been.

Harry wasn't there anymore…

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_This is a shared project of Juu & Jekyll.  
Be kind and review!  
Oh and a warning: there will be a slash-relationship, though it it not the main focus of this story._


	2. Escape From Hellview

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**2. Escape From Hellview **

_The fire dies on its own  
Leaving us to ourselves but not exactly alone  
I think that something is out there waiting  
Anticipation has grown_

* * *

Apparation was not possible in Hogwarts, yet Harry had just transported himself from the Headmaster's Office to the Quidditch Pitch. Curious, very curious. Especially since Harry had no clue how to Apparate and didn't even do anything. So perhaps it was caused by Snape's spell? But Harry had avoided that hex…

While pondering on these things, Harry slowly walked over Hogwarts' Quidditch pitch to the castle. The fresh blanket of snow crunched under his shoes and the wind played with his robes, but he didn't notice the cold as he was warmed by a strong heat deep inside of his being.

He absentmindedly brushed some glass off his robe's sleeve. He stopped and stared confused at the glistering glass on his hand. Upon further inspection he found out he was covered from head to toe with the stuff, and not all of it was glass, he was sure there was even little pieces of metal amongst them. He brushed the stuff off his arms when he remembered something he should not forget as many times as he did.

He was a wizard.

With a simple cleaning charm all the glass, metal and whatever more was gone, and Harry continued his walk to Hogwarts. With every step he took, the anger came back. Why did Albus not tell him? Harry had the right to know _**it **_before he was thrown into the snake's pit!

What made him even more upset was the fact that he had to walk all the way back to Dumbledore's office. What the hell happened just a few moments ago! Had Dumbledore done it to keep him from wrecking the office? Cause Harry certainly wouldn't have minded to wreck some more, like that old bastard's neck for example. Or what about Snape's?

Only the mere thought of Snape made Harry furiously grit his teeth. Oh, how he despised that man with his bias and his unfair way of treating his students… especially a certain Gryffindor. The moment he got back to the Headmaster's office, he would send so many hexes at the Potions master that the man would be stuck in the infirmary for the rest of the year. After that he would figure out what to do with Dumbledore.

* * *

A lone Hufflepuff quickly hurried through the corridors and down the big marble stairs in the main hall. His hand sneaked into a pocket to feel if a certain note was still in it. He had received it by owl just a few moments ago and it had taken him quite some difficulty to get away from his housemates. Even though he was seen as a loner, they still held a close eye on him. Damn their so called 'loyalty'.

The note held a short message: '_There's something you need to know. Come immediately to the back of Hagrid's cabin. NOW! Make sure no one sees you!'_

Harry was certain it had to do with his mission. He opened the door and checked the grounds. Nobody was out there, the coast was clear. Though the white of the snow would make his black robes stand out to anyone who was looking out of a window. Nothing to be done about that; he could later always claim he had gone to Hagrid because he was being bullied or something.

He stepped out, totally obvious to the dark figure coming from the Quidditch pitch.

Harry's wild thoughts of mutilating certain people got interrupted as a person quickly ran off the stairs in front of the big wooden entrance-door of the castle. The person jumped down the last few steps and seemed to be in a hurry.

* * *

_This is odd, _Harry thought as he quickly checked his watch. _All students should be in their dorms right now._ He suspiciously walked closer; the other person hadn't noticed him yet. _Perhaps it's not a student… I should confront them._

Was it another situation, then Harry would have thought up a more sneakier way to approach the figure, but now, still enraged and irritated, he just walked up to them.

"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded to know, making his voice sound a bit lower for extra effect.

The other jumped startled away from him and Harry could make out a perfectly done up Hufflepuff robe. _A Hufflepuff? Why-, _And then he stared astounded at the boy's-cause it was indeed a boy-face.

It was like staring into a mirror. He had the same emerald eyes, the same black, messy hair, the same glasses, the same lightning bolt scar, the same nose, the same lips...

"What's going on here?" his mirror image wished to know, face gaunt in shock.

"Good question," Harry replied, quickly reinforcing his hold on his wand which he hadn't put away during the walk to the castle. "I like that question. I might even ask it myself."

The Hufflepuff Harry seemed for a moment to be paralyzed in shock, his eyes fixated upon Harry in Gryffindor robes in front of him. He swallowed and pointed his wand at his reflection.

"Who the hell are you?" the Hufflepuff managed to ask in a very shaky voice. "You can't be him! We had him! I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you! You will mess everything up."

Harry frowned at these exclamations. _What is he talk-_ He couldn't finish his thoughts as the other threw a nasty curse at him and he dodged instinctively. _This is a Death Eater. He must be with the usage of these hexes._ Harry concluded as he kept dodging the attacks of the impostor. _I should bring him to Dumb-_

He threw a mild jinx back which hit target and the impostor started to sprout fur at the spot where the hex had hit him. Distracted by that, he gave Harry enough time to make up his mind. _Screw Dumbledore! I'm going to-_

The impostor ignored the fur and then, out of nowhere, threw enraged a curse at Harry that the boy hadn't expected and so didn't have time to react to.

An Avada Kadavra curse.

The eerie green light shot at him as an arrow from a bow and Harry felt the icy coldness of the spell engulf him completely. He shuddered as the cold crept up his spine to take residence in his head, creating the most horrendous headache he ever had.

But he didn't die.

Totally disregarding any thoughts about why the hell he hadn't died the moment the spell had hit him, Harry took threatening a step towards the Hufflepuff, who had dropped his wand onto the ground and was backing away from him. The imposter seemed to be in total shock, muttering under his breath that '_It can't be. Impossible._'

Harry stared with narrowed eyes at him and just aimed.

The imposter had no chance to avoid the Incendio, which was normally a relative harmless spell. However, the spell had so much power behind it that the impostor's body immediately was engulfed with hot and fiercely burning flames. It took only seconds to burn his body into ashes.

Harry stared aphetic at the burned earth in front of him and finally lowered his wand arm. It was then that it really sunk in; he had killed someone again, someone who had been impersonating him.

This could only mean trouble, as Voldemort, who Harry suspected had sent this Death Eater, would want to know where the guy had gone. But he had said: '_We had him._' Had the imposter been under the impression that Harry was caught tonight? By Voldemort?

Harry couldn't make any sense of it.

"Harry! Is that you?"

He spun around, still in shock, and saw a massive shadow coming his way. He tried to pull his mind together, but he couldn't think of something intelligent to say.

"I... eh... hi Hagrid..."

"What are ye doin' 'ere, all by yerself? I heard some noise comin' from outside, ye know and... oh... they didn't..." Hagrid stopped in mid-sentence and threw a dark look at the large wooden entrance door. Then he looked Harry in the eye. "Was it that Slytherin boy again, pullin' yer leg? Locked yer out, did he?"

Harry blinked. _Even if he had, I would've taken care of my own business_, Harry thought, but decided to play dumb and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, thought so," said Hagrid understanding and smiled. Harry couldn't keep himself from smiling back, the giant simply had that effect on him.. "Come on, I'll take ye back. Ye shouldn't stay out 'ere all by yerself." And he guided Harry to the castle.

There surely was something weird about Hagrid. He treated Harry differently, it wasn't normal. The way he talked, the way he'd placed his large hand on Harry's shoulder, like a father would do with his son, the expression on his face. He seemed caucious as if Harry would fall to pieces if handled too roughly. Did the giant perhaps know about what had happend in the forrest?

"Are ye allright, Harry?" asked Hagrid sympathetically as they crossed the grounds to the marble stairs.

Harry looked up and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine," he managed to say. _Once I'm done with Dumbledore and Snape, that is_, he thought. Just because of what happened a few moments ago, didn't mean he'd forgotten all about it.

"Ye know, Harry,.. I think you shouldn't let yerself get pushed around so easily," said Hagrid, frowning in concern.

"What?" Harry didn't really understand or believe what he just heard. Was he talking about Dumbledore? But Hagrid continued. "You should stand up fer yerself and... oh... nothing Harry, jus' leave it, it's all right," Hagrid said kindly as he saw Harry's confused expression. "Ye go back to yer dormitory now."

"Yeah... I guess I will..." answered Harry, still astounded by Hagrid words, and he pushed open the door to the entrance-hall of Hogwarts.

As he stepped in, he halted for a moment as he stared up the stairs leading to Gryffindor tower. Then he glanced at a hallway that was in the direction of Dumbledore's office. The decision was quickly made and he stalked purposefully through the corridors.

It was blissfully silent, and Harry thanked the fact that it was after curfew. If he had met someone on the way in his state, there would be a big chance they might have ended up like the Death Eater outside. He was just about halfway of a corridor when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Pray tell why are you here and not in your dormitory?"

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_The chapters are no longer beta-read; excuses for the inadequate grammar & spelling._


	3. Must Be Dreaming

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**3. Must Be Dreaming**

_This is the right turn wrong  
Universe taking me in full bloom  
Fireball careful with that there  
See what you made me do_

* * *

Harry held, the moment he heard the other person speaking, his wand in his hand again. He realized it might be less trouble if he kept holding it, instead of putting it back in his pocket all the time.

He stepped aside while turning around, a habit taught to him by a very vigilant person, which had saved his live plenty of times.

In front of him stood an unfamiliar man, probably somewhere mid twenties, with a friendly, yet worried look on his face. Harry just blinked, not recognizing him and wondering what the man was doing here at Hogwarts.

"Harry?" the man finally asked again as he didn't receive an answer. "Is there something wrong?"

Harry shook slowly his head. _Besides the fact that something just doesn't seem to fit here?_

"I-I'm alright. I mean, everything is alright," he gave a small smile to pacify the unknown man who grinned back, relieved.

"That's good to hear. Now, I don't know why you are out of your dormitory, but I can fathom a good reason. Nevertheless, I still will have to take 10 points from you. Now Hop off. Off with you to the dorms," the man said as he made shooing motions with his hand.

Harry turned bewildered around and started to walk obediently towards the Gryffindor tower. Why was he listening to this stranger instead of continuing his path to make some points clear to the Headmaster? He didn't really understand, other than the fact that something really seemed off about… well, about everything.

With his mind still on this vague foreboding feeling, he found himself in front of the Gryffindor entrance and muttered the password: **"Emerald Dragon."**

"_No offence, but that is not the password. Not to mention the fact that you are not one of my Gryffindors. I must ask you to leave."_

Harry looked startled up at that polite, yet stern voice and stared incredulous at the painting. It wasn't the Fat Lady who had hung there for how long he could remember. Instead of her, there was a tall woman with black hair in a bun, and silver piercing eyes. She was holding a book and appeared to have been sitting in an uncomfortable straight-backed chair.

"Who are you? Where is the Fat Lady?"

The painting seemed to be offended by his tone of voice. "_I am Machia Vellian, the protector of Gryffindor Tower and I do not have any knowledge of this 'Obese Lady' you are talking about. Now please, go to your dormitories."_

"But I am a Gryffindor!" Harry tried to defend himself.

"_You can try to deny it with words, or even try with that fancy Gryffindor crest on your robes, but you are a Hufflepuff, Mister Harry Potter."_

"I am-I am a WHAT!"

"_Please cease making such a ruckus, or do you prefer me to call a professor?"_

That actually sounded like a nice thing to Harry; it would probably clear up the confusion he was in, but that same foreboding feeling he had had before made him reconsider. "No, I… I'll be going. I'm sorry to have bothered you…" he said as he distractedly found his way back.

_What the Hell was that? _Harry wondered disorientated as he stumbled away from Machia Vellian's painting. This day had seriously messed with all his senses and he was pissed off, dead-tired and he had no bloody idea about what was going on.

_What in Merlin's name is going on! Everything is so bloody insane!_

"You should've let me in! I belong in Gryffindor!" he shouted over his shoulder, feeling the same fury, he had felt in Dumbledore's office growing steadily inside him again. "I am really a Gryffindor!"

There he was; totally confused and everything around him acted abnormal and wasn't what it was supposed to be.

"What am I gonna do now..." Harry asked distressed to no one in particular, as he wandered through the corridors.

"I have a suggestion," answered yet another unfamiliar voice. "Why don't you go to bed, Mister Potter? Late is the hour and near is the morrow. Why don't you go to bed?"

Harry turned slightly around and noticed a statuesque woman. She was made of a material that looked like silver to him, but was in fact white gold, not that he would have knowledge about such a thing.

At the woman's feet stood a small basket which was covered by a little blanket to conceal the contents. She wore a long, Medieval dress with a cloak over it, and her hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall. To Harry, she looked rather captivating; still, the words she'd just spoken weren't of much use for him.

"Yeah well, I just tried to! But it didn't really work out, now did it? I can't get to my bloody bed!" he answered biting.

"_Stop chatting with Morgan and just get to the Hufflepuff cellars!"_ a portrait on the wall yelled gruffly. "_I'm trying to get some sleep here!"_

He was joined by other portraits that yelled out their annoyance.

"_Shut your trap, Hengist! We all try to sleep here!"_

"_Inform a teacher!"_

"_Student out of bed! Student out of bed!"_

The variety of yelling, screaming and screeching voices attacked Harry's mind and he covered his ears with his hands, trying in vain to keep the voices out.

"Shut up!" he yelled back, "Shut! UP!"

At the last sibyl of the word, the heat that had formed in Harry's' chest, searched for release. It soared, in the form of a blazing fireball, through the hallway, leaving everything in its path scorched and sizzling. It also silenced all the portraits as they fled for safety.

Harry took his hands from their place over his ears and stared distraught around him. "What have I done?" he asked himself. "What have I done! First outside, now in here. How can I control this?"

He slumped down onto the ground and covered his eyes, not noticing while doing so, that the small fires around him were put down with water appearing out of thin air. "How can I stop it?"

"Anger management, perhaps."

He shot up and whirled around to face the silver statue of the woman. She was undamaged, not even soot dirtied her profile. "How?" he asked and she gave him a mystic smile.

"You're an elemental. What a pleasant surprise," she commented, not answering his question.

Harry scowled and swept with an arm at the mess he just made. "How is THAT pleasant?"

Again she didn't answer him, as she looked him over, tapping with a finger against her full lips. "This might get interesting. Alright young man. You look exhausted, it is time for you to go to bed and since you don't wish to go to your dormitories… I know this room. It is on this floor and if you walk three times-"

"The Room of Requirement?"

"You know it, my dear? How interesting. Well, I suggest you go there to sleep, you need it. And then tomorrow you can come back to me and we will have a little chat."

"I want to talk now!"

"Calm down. Do you really think you are in the right state to absorb everything I will tell you?"

"I sure a-" he interrupted his answer by involuntary yawning and she gave him a sly smirk.

"Come back tomorrow," she advised. "Things will look more natural then. Answers will come to you more swiftly." She glanced over his shoulder. "And don't worry about the little… mess… I will take care of all of it. You go to rest."

And Harry, tired of everything and the usage of wild magic that day, nodded at her, and followed her advice.

_In the morning… everything will be clearer._

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**Again a warning.**_

_**Yeh be warned, somewhere far away in this story, there will be slash. I'm tired of complaints about me not warning people. There is warning at the end of the first chapter too. Read it better!**_


	4. With You

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**4. With you **

_I woke up in a dream today  
To the cold of the static and put my cold feet on the floor  
Forgot all about yesterday  
Remembering I'm pretending to be where I'm not anymore _

* * *

The morning was certainly very clear.

The sun fell straight onto Harry Potter's face and the Gryffindor threw drowsy an arm over his eyes, trying in vain to hang onto the last wisps of his peacefull sleep. He failed miserably though, as the morning demanded to be acknowledged.

He pushed the covers off his body and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Then he tried for a moment to sit up, but let himself fall exhausted backwards onto the mattress again.

He felt tired and sleepy. As if he was drained of all his energy and to add to that, a firm headache was starting at the back of his head. Gradually the pain seemed to infect his whole body and within moments everything was aching.

Harry cursed the sun for waking him up.

Finally after a long time he tried to sit up again and he miraculously succeeded. He squinted at the nightstand for his glasses, but they didn't appear to be there. He quickly swept with a hand over it just in case, but he couldn't feel it either.

With a groan he leaned over the other side of the bed where his clothes lied in a heap on the ground. He fumbled through them, found his wand and mentally cursed himself for not keeping his wand under the pillow. What if he needed it at night? Or in an emergency?

He sat back up again on the bed and waved shortly. "Accio glasses."

After a moment, he was hit against the head by the glasses and he swiftly grabbed them out of the air before they could land on the bed. He put them on and blinked.

"Why the hell is everything so… purple?"

A quickly glance around the room proved that he definitely wasn't in the Gryffindor Dorms. Before he could wonder why he wasn't there, his memory finally caught up with him.

The memory of Dumbledore's final betrayal. The statue. The happenings in the Forbidden Forest. Snape. The Deatheater. His own fierce outburst in the corridor. The paintings absolute denial of him being a Gryffindor. Ending up sleeping in the Room of Requirement.

Harry rubbed his brow as he pondered over these things. Since yesterday, everything had been more abnormal then he was used to. And that is saying a lot, as he had been in quite odd situations before.

Now there were three things he needed to find out.

One; why did everything seem to be just not like they were supposed to be? Why were the paintings different? Why did the castle in its whole just feel a bit… unfamiliar? Why did that teacher, who he never had met before, and the paintings think he was a Hufflepuff?

Two; how would he be able to control his newfound power? He knew he had to find some way, or he might end up destroying Hogwarts. The statue had called him an 'elemental' and said he should come back to her. Perhaps she could help?

And finally number three; what should he do about Dumbledore? … and Snape for that matter?

A loud grumble interrupted him from working himself up into a hissy fit again and he chuckled softly to himself.

"Okay," he said as he leaned over to grab his clothes. "I'll go eat something first, ignore Albus and Snape the best I can and be pissed off at them later, skip classes and go talk to the statue and after that… I will see further."

With that decided he got out of bed and put his clothes on, noticing the soreness had largely disappeared. The only thing that still bothered him was his headache, but he would use the same tactic on it which he used for Dumbledore.

Ignore it.

Moments later, Harry found himself walking through the familiar hallways of Hogwarts. He tried not to pay too much attention to the paintings and such he walked by, knowing that they, just like the ones in the corridor outside the Room of Requirement, were unfamiliar to him or hung on different places than he was used to.

He was relatively close to the Great Hall when someone came towards him in the opposite direction. A closer look showed that it was the unknown teacher from the night before.

"Morning Harry," the man said with a quick nod and smile, before walking past him. Harry turned around to watch frowning the retreating back of the man.

_Who the hell IS he?_

Shaking his head in confusion he resumed walking towards the Great Hall, wondering if he were to find something totally out of place there too.

And he did.

Harry was either having a dream or a vision send to him by Voldemort for whatever insane reason the just as insane Dark Lord had come up with.

Or he was in an alternate reality, like Hermione once had written a nine foot paper about for History of Magic.

_I mean, what other reason can there be?'_ Harry wondered as he gazed around the Hall. _What other reason can there be for everything to be so damn blue?_

It was as if he was looking through glasses with blue lenses. The once wooden benches and tables were blue, the plates, utensils and goblets were blue. The candles floating up in the air were blue. There was even a blue carpet on the ground! Why so blue? Granted, they were all different _shades_ of blue. _For diversity,_ he thought distractedly. _But…? Why? _

Still shaking his head slightly in shock, he walked over to his usual place at the Gryffindor table. He was about to sit down as someone called out to him.

"Hey Potter!"

He turned to face Neville, who he knew the voice belonged to, and then stared flabbergasted at the Gryffindor. He didn't look like the Neville he knew. Harry could still vaguely see his old friend in him, but that was all. This Neville looked stronger, more confident and certainly broader shouldered.

Neville gave his friends around him an odd, half-amused look. "I know that people can't help being in awe of my great person, Potter," he said with a gracious smirk. "But stop staring or people might take it wrongly."

Harry just stared at him as if he had sprouted another head (or a different one for that matter) and raised a questioning brow. Had Neville just sounded arrogant? Well, that was one thing he had never expected from the guy.

Neville, in turn began, to feel uncomfortable. He had expected the shy Hufflepuff to blush and stutter an apology like he normally would. Harry did seem different today. Neville decided not to pay too much attention to it. Whatever it was, it would be over soon, he thought.

"Potter, go to your own house table. I don't think anyone here has invited you to sit with them," he snorted and took a gulp of his pumpkin juice. "Why would they," he added with a soft chuckle, which was promptly joined by others at the Gryffindor table.

Harry started to scowl, but turned around and walked away.

"What's up with him?" he heard someone ask and then another muttered something about the stability of his mind. Was it not that even Harry was doubting his sanity; he would have turned around and told them to shut up so he could think.

_It's not as it should be, _he thought rapidly as he walked out of the Great Hall, opting to go to the kitchen instead of his so called house table, which was most likely Hufflepuff as it had been mentioned so much to him.

_This is not my world._

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	5. Ghost of my Past

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**5. Ghost of my Past**

_I didn't expect to feel you  
I didn't want to see you  
I didn't want to know you were here  
Didn't expect to know you  
Didn't expect to hear you  
Didn't want to believe you were near  
You're the Ghost of my Past_

* * *

Harry discovered with great pleasure that the kitchens were exactly how they used to be… though he did miss two certain house elves there.

"Excuse me?" he interrupted a few from busily rushing around. One quickly appeared by his side and stared fearfully up at him.

"Is sir wanting something? Is the food not satisfactory?"

Harry stared down at the large eyes that shone with unshed tears at the elves' thought mistake and smiled brilliantly.

"No, no, I'm sure the food is great, it's just the company that sucked."

The large eyes blinked in confusion and Harry quickly rephrased his sentence. "I just felt like eating here, so I can tell you how much I enjoy it!"

Harry realized, when it fell totally silent, that all the house elves had been listening to him, while still energetic rushing about. The one in front of him now actually cried.

"Master is so kind!" it sniffed as it almost forcefully pulled Harry by the hand to a table and pushed the student on a chair. Four other elves quickly placed plates full with delicious foods in front of him. Things he was sure he hadn't seen on the house tables in the Great Hall.

_Perhaps this is what the teachers eat?_

"Thank you," he said before he could stop himself. It seemed like long drilled manners always stayed with you.

The four elves stared at him as if he was a higher deity while the crying one started muttering things about how great Harry was and how kind and 'sir must eat loads'.

The elf kind of reminded Harry of Dobby, though more in manners than in appearance. He wanted to ask for the elf's name, but he was afraid they all would have a heart attack if he did.

Instead he smiled at the elves and ate whatever he thought would taste good.

It was heaven!

He savored every bite, as it had been a long time since he last ate; at least it felt like a long time to him. And the elves appeared to greatly enjoy watching him eat.

When he was sated he sighed happily, his mood better than it had been for the last 24 hours and he grinned at the elves that were staring intentionally at him.

"It was a meal worth for royalty." He complimented them and watched amused how the elves shared cheerful smiles as they returned to doing their tasks. There were fewer elves than there had been before and Harry turned frowning to the elves which had greeted him as the first.

"Where have most the elves gone to?"

"Doing their tasks, sir," the elves replied. "Sir now has classes to go to!"

Harry nodded and stood up. "Thank you all," he said as he walked to the entrance, escorted by the elf whose name he still didn't know. He quickly resolved that.

"What's your name?"

"My… my name sir?"

"Yes, mine is Harry. What is yours?"

"Petrol, sir," the bewildered elf answered and received a large smile from Harry.

"Petrol..." Harry hesitated for a moment but then finally asked what has been on his mind all the time. "Do you know the elf Dobby?"

_Dobby can't be here,_ a small voice declared in the back of his head and Harry knew it to be true. If Dobby were here; he would have given Harry a warm welcome by showing him his new socks or something similar and Dobby-like.

Petrol gazed blinking up at Harry. "Petrol don't know him, sir."

"Never mind then," smiled Harry. "I must go to my classes. Thanks again for the wonderful food!"

"Sir is too kind! If sir needs more, sir is always welcome!"

Normally, Harry would have Herbology right now, but he seriously doubted that would be the case here. Besides, he needed to sort things out first. This place looked like the Hogwarts he knew, yet it wasn't. And the only one he thought could help him right now was the statue he had met the day before.

_What's her name again?_ he pondered distractedly as he made his way to the hallway she stood in. _She seemed to know a lot and most likely is able to help me out. At least with my new abilities._

As he turned around a corner, still deep in thought, he heard something loud behind him. It took him a few seconds to realize someone was calling out to him.

"Harry Potter!"

Harry slowly turned around to face the other person, mouth already open to ask disturbed 'What do you want!' to the person, and found himself speechless as he saw who the voice belonged to.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" asked Cedric Diggory sternly as he towered above Harry.

Harry's felt his knees grow weak and he swallowed hard. That was Cedric! Cedric who had died a few years ago! Cedric; the admired Seeker and Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team! Cedric; his fellow champion who had helped him during the Triwizard-Tournament with his dragon egg. Cedric... who at the graveyard…

And suddenly Harry felt the great urge to just break down and bawl his eyes out. Fortunately enough for him, his troubled memories were drawn to a stop by the same person who had called them up.

Cedric raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for? A Royal escort? Guess what; today's your lucky day!"

Before Harry could react, he was dragged through the corridors by his arm and his juggled up mind suddenly came randomly up with a name.

"Ah! Morgane! Of course," he exclaimed suddenly, remembering the name of the statue. Cedric stopped marching instantly.

"Harry," he said through gritted teeth. "Don't skip classes to go on dates. I know you and you already do dreadful in classes so don't make it worse. The rest of Hufflepuff suffers under it too!"

And with this warning, he threw open a door and pushed Harry inside quite unceremoniously. "The lost was found, professor," Cedric said and the door slammed shut.

Harry gazed blinking around, only to be interrupted by a not so amused sounding voice.

"How nice of you to finally join us," the teacher, a tall woman, said with a disapproving look on her face. She motioned with an arm to the rest of the class, that had been watching them avidly. "Sit down please."

Harry glanced at the class, noticing that only two chairs were empty, one near the front next to a girl he didn't know and one in the back of the classroom.

Force of habit made Harry start walking towards the seat in the back, where Ron and he always sat, but he was only halfway when the teacher's voice stopped him.

"At your usual spot, Mister Potter…"

Amidst giggling and laughter from his classmates, Harry turned around to see the teacher impatiently pointing to the chair next to the girl.

He sighed deeply and went to that spot, but was once again stopped by the teacher.

"And where are your books?"

"Uh, I um… forgot them?"

"Thirty points from Hufflepuff," she said and turned her back to him. Harry finally sat down next to the girl who pulled a face at him. "You weren't even in the dorms this morning! Where have you been?" the girl hissed at him.

"You can share books with Miss Willow." The teacher said and then started her lecture, saving Harry from explaining to this girl, who apparently was his house mate.

He rubbed his brow tiredly. Nothing ever went his way, did it?

A sharp look from the teacher made him pretend to listen and make notes on a small paper given to him from the girl. He would play along for now, but after class: he would go straight to Morgane!

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	6. Away from the Sun

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**6. Away from the Sun**

_I've got to make this life make sense  
Can anyone tell what I've done  
I miss the life  
I miss the colors of the world  
Can anyone tell where I am?_

* * *

"-and that is how he decided to stop the war." the teacher, whom Harry found out during class was called Miss O'Tooley, was stopped by the bell. As the students pushed their parchments and books in their bags, she quickly gave them their homework.

"And Mister Potter," Harry looked questioning up at her, halfway through giving the girl next to him her quill back, and now holding it stationary in the air.

"Yes professor?"

O'Tooley looked disapproving down at him. "I expect one foot more from you for being late ánd forgetting your books. Next time it happens, it will be detention!"

"Yes Professor," Harry answered docile and watched her turn back to the papers on his desk as he suddenly felt the quill being yanked out of his fingers. He turned to the disgruntled girl next to him; apparently he'd seriously annoyed her with something.

"Next time," the brunette hissed lowly at him. "You can just share with whomever you spend the night with!" she stood up and stalked off, leaving Harry to stare oddly after her.

"Wicket's pissed at you," someone suddenly said from behind him, followed by a soft kick to his chair and the order to hurry up or he'll miss Potions.

Harry felt like he was missing something big here.

He shook away the trance built up by the lecture of the professor and focused on his earlier plans: talk to Morgane. Since he was already one of the last to leave the classroom, he didn't have many problems with classmates trying to drag him along.

Fairly close to Morgane's hallway, he abruptly felt the air being knocked out of him, but managed not to fall by staggering to a wall.

"Watch out where you're going!" a voice proclaimed harshly.

Harry only glanced at the familiar person who was standing before him and was rubbing an apparently hurt shoulder.

"Look out yourself, Malfoy," he said instinctively and pushed himself away from the wall to stalk annoyed away, not noticing that he left the blonde Slytherin staring gobsmacked after him.

The annoyance Harry felt was short-lived as he realized that at least his school-nemesis appeared to be 'normal'. This relieved him.

Harry turned around a corner and there she was, Morgane. He didn't took notice of the paintings on the walls, from which the occupants silenced at his sight and left their paintings to seek shelter somewhere far away from him.

He stalked over to Morgane who smiled amiable and stopped right in front of her, crossed his arms. "This is not my world," he brusquely told her.

The silver statue raised her brows quizzically. "Excuse me?" 

"This world!" Harry said, throwing his arms in the air and motioning at his surroundings. "It's all so different, people are different..."

"How so?" 

Harry sighed deeply and walked backwards until he felt the wall opposing Morgane against his back. He let himself slide down against it. "I'm so lost. Morgane, you're not supposed to be here. I'd never seen you before until yesterday! In my world this hallways has tapestries showing the Goblin War."

He racked with a hand through his wild hair. "When I tried to get to my dormitory yesterday, the painting guarding it wouldn't let me in, saying I didn't belong there. There are unfamiliar people everywhere and people who I know to be dead! And when I arrived I saw this other Harry-" '_and I killed him.'_

Then meeting Cedric again crossed his mind and the fact that Dobby wasn't here. Harry swallowed and blinked away some tears. Things were getting to frustrating and he had nothing to take it out on.

"-and why the Hell is the Great Hall periwinkle blue?" he suddenly asked chagrined, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's tradition that whichever house wins the House Cup, the following school year the Great Hall will be adorned in their color," Morgane replied, happy to have at least something she could explain to the confused boy.

"That's insane!"

She shrugged. "It was Headmaster Dumbledore's idea."

"So he's a real fruitcake here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing... Never mind that. The thing is; this is not the world I know and remember. So I think…" he trailed off.

"What do you think, dear?" Morgane prodded him. She hadn't been able to follow what he had been talking about, so she was getting eager to find out.

"Well, in class I was wondering how I could have apparated from the Headmaster's Office to the Quidditch Field, but perhaps I didn't apparate."

He snorted and then started to laugh wildly. "You'd think it possible that I transported myself to another Dimension? I know… I know… it sounds insane," he blabbered. "I probably just hit my head or something and-"

"It is quite possible, Mister Potter." 

"Excuse me?" Harry looked started up at her and Morgane smiled apprehensive.

"My mentor Merlin was a Dimension Wanderer. I tried it myself actually, but I just wasn't able too. It was such a disappointment."

"You knew Merlin?"

"Yes, he was my Mentor, though there was a lot of competition between us."

"Mentor? Wait a second. You're not the Morgane from the King Arthur tales?"

She only smiled in answer.

"You seduced Arthur and were the mother of Mordred!" Harry exclaimed, remembering this from who other than Hermione.

Morgan laughed. "That was Morgause, my sister. Modern interpretations of the tale always say it was me, it quite amuses me. I guess Medieval Christianity had a difficult time assimilating a benevolent enchantress like me."

Harry opened his mouth but she shook her head to silence him. "But my history can wait. Will you tell me what has happened to you? You made me quite curious."

He shrugged. "Well, it's Dumbledore's fault really. Because of him I went into the forest."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	7. In Memory

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**7. In Memory **__

_I can't live in the past  
And drown myself in memories  
Welcome to nowhere and finding out where it is  
And fixing your problems and starting over again_

* * *

"I presume you are talking about the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yeah… and um… things happened there…"

Morgane let out a short, feminine laugh. "That is very detailed," she commented amused.

Harry just gave her a nondescript look that could have meant anything. "I just… don't want to talk about it yet. It makes me angry and I appear to commit arson every time I get mad."

"Your elemental," Morgane named his new power. "I will try to explain it, but first tell me what has happened to you." 

"Well you know; Albus, the manipulative old coot likes to keep important things from me. But all it ever does is putting me in danger. In the forest I found out yet another thing he had kept from me and I just went into this fit of rage! When I confronted him, I was attacked by a teacher, we dueled and next thing I know I'm on the Quidditch field! And from that point on everything just was different then I knew it to be."

"You dueled with a teacher?"

Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "He was being an obnoxious bastard, as always."

Morgane laughed again and looked with clear affection down at him. "So, it really is true. I believe you Harry, may I call you that? The Harry Potter from this world would never dare to do or say such things. And from the moment I met you, your behavior was so different!"

Harry grinned lopsided at her and she tapped, deep in thought, with her index finger against her chin. "So you are here from another reality, or dimension may you call it, and you have no idea how it happened?"

He shook his head in denial.

"Then we have to find out how you did it and how to do it again." She was silent for a moment. "You **do** want to go back?" she suddenly questioned him and Harry opened his mouth to tell her '_Hell yeah_!' but closed it abruptly. He frowned.

"… I don't know," he admitted, a bit confused with his own confession. "My world isn't really that fun a place and-" he stopped himself from talking further and shook his head.

"I'll just have to find out and when I know; I'll make the decision to stay or not." He racked with a hand through his wild hair. "I can't believe I'm actually considering staying here, I'm needed at home! I should go back, I want to-I think…"

"Do not worry too much, Harry. It is only obvious that you are confused. It's not everyday you find yourself in a violently different dimension."

He nodded. "This is so odd. Another reality! It's like saying I went back into time. Oh wait, already did that; though it feels just as odd. Like every second now I can bump into my other self and…" he trailed off_. 'Oh yeah, dead. I killed myself, can that be considered suicide?'_

"Time travel?" Morgane asked interested and leaned over to him.

Harry snapped out of his random thoughts and glanced at her face; her eyes were wide open in curiosity. "Yeah. With a time turner."

Morgane's eyes grew even wider if that was possible and she gasped audibly. "You mean one of those chains with small hourglasses on it that-" Harry nodded. "Those things are really powerful and dangerous! And you used one, Harry?" 

"Yeah, together with Hermione Granger back in third year to save the lives of a few good friends, not to mention my own!"

"I see," said Morgane and grinned, not in the least bothered about the fact that he did something which was considered illegal. "What was it like?"

"Well, just as confusing as being here. Most I remember of it was Hermione dragging me along, making sure we didn't bump into our past selves."

"Hermione Granger you said? Is she a good friend of yours?"

"Absolutely! She and Ron Weasley have been my best friends ever since our first year at Hogwarts. She is so smart and eager to learn that she refused to choose subjects in our third year; she wanted to take them all. That is why McGonagall got her a time turner."

"Really, McGonagall did? Very interesting I must say," said Morgane. "But Hermione Granger is, in my humble opinion, an arrogant, cocky Slytherin. If only I could stick out a foot whenever she'd walk by..." 

"What! Hermione is a Slytherin!" Harry exclaimed startled with disbelief clear to be seen on his face. "How about Ron?" He pulled a face. "Don't tell me he's the most intelligent Ravenclaw that has ever attended Hogwarts!"

Morgane let out a small giggle. "If you mean the tall, red headed Quidditch-player; I can inform you that he is a Gryffindor."

"Thank Merlin that some things never change!" Harry said relieved. "And Malfoy?" he suddenly found himself asking.

Secretly he hoped that Draco indeed hadn't changed either, at least something would remain the same then. Besides, he enjoyed his fights with the blonde prat, since generally Voldemort was to far away to act out his anger on, he could direct it to the Slytherin, who retailed with just as much favor.

"Draco Malfoy?" Morgane said with a slight frown. "Rumors go that-"

"Potter! Harry Potter!" She was interrupted by a loud booming voice. "Where are you, Harry Potter!"

Harry looked startled in the direction where the voice came from, unconsciously drawing his wand. As he glanced to Morgane, he saw that she had stopped moving and he was staring broodingly at her frozen form when the Fat Friar flew through a wall.

The ghost seemed startled to have found Harry so easily and hovered in the air above him for a short amount of time.

"Your House head wishes to see you," he finally stated.

"Oh," was Harry's only response as he quickly put his wand in a pocket.

The Fat Friar started to float away but stopped as he noticed Harry wasn't following him. "What are you waiting for? Professor Rosier asked me to deliver you personally, so get a move on!"

Harry quickly jogged after him, contemplating certain things. One, this Fat Friar seemed less jovial then the one from back home, but perhaps it was just because of the situation.

Two, the people in this world were really not that nice to Harry. They seemed annoyed with his presence at the least, was it because they just didn't like the Harry from their world or did they on some subconscious level of their mind realize he was different?

And three; if memory conserved right; the Herbology professor Sprout, was the head of Hufflepuff. So who the Hell was Rosier?

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	8. High Rollah

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

_Jekyll chews on a chocolate cookie. "Thanks."_  
_Juu munches on a sugar cookie. "Same here."_

* * *

**8. High Rollah**

_I'm gonna stay like this  
At least for a while  
_'_cause I'm down with my attitude  
Yes I'm down with my style_

* * *

"You may enter," a baritone voice said just moments after Harry had knocked on the door. He glanced furtive at the ghost besides him before entering the office and then closed abruptly the door in the ghost's face.

Of course it wouldn't keep the Fat Friar from coming in after him, after all; he was a ghost and could easily go through walls. That didn't however keep Harry from feeling slightly better by doing so.

He glanced, feeling pleased, at the Far Friar who floated through the door and scowled darkly at Harry. "I brought him, sir," the Fat Friar said to the man sitting in a chair, who nodded in thanks at the ghost.

"Thank you, now if you please would excuse us, Harry and I need to have a talk."

_He talks the same way Dumbledore also seems to be familiar enough with me to call me by my first name._

Harry stared straight at the man and carefully took in his appearance. Because the man was sitting down, he couldn't see how tall he was, though he estimated quite taller than himself.

He had short dark hair, which made him think of Victor Krums' hairstyle back in fourth year, thick eyebrows and dark penetrating eyes. He could see a shadow of a coming beard on the man's jaw and were Harry a girl; he would have called the man roguishly handsome.

"Are you done, Harry?" the baritone voice asked and Harry's head shot up in surprise. He stared startled in the previously mentioned dark eyes.

The man didn't seem amused at all.

"I don't understand what you're trying to do, Harry," Evan Rosier said frowning as he pushed some papers to the side of his desk and leaned back in his chair. "So why don't you tell me what you're trying to accomplish."

"I um… I don't know?" Harry stuttered, uncertain of how to act around this unfamiliar wizard and not knowing what kind of behavior the man was talking about.

Rosier stood up and walked around the desk.

_Definitely taller… and broader than me._

"You don't do your homework. You don't go to the extra tutoring classes I personally arranged for you. You purposefully make my house loose numerous points by slacking and just plain being lazy!" the man ranted annoyed.

"And now you skip classes? What is wrong with you? You deliberately try to disgrace your fellow classmates? Not to mention that I had a worried Miss Willow coming to my chambers yesterday night, because **you** weren't in your dorm!"

_Woah, this Universe's Harry sounds like a lazy bum. No wonder people are being so biased and displeased towards me._

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Being sorry is not going to help here, you-"

"I realize that sir," Harry quickly interrupted the man from ranting onward. "That's why I am going to change."

His house head raised a brow in blatant disbelieve. "I've heard that one before," Rosier said dryly.

"Yes, but this time I won't only say it. You will see it too!"

Inwardly Harry smirked. Oh, he would show it alright. He should ask Morgane about this Universe's Harry too, but from what he had heard so far, he didn't like himself one bit.

"I give you one last chance," the man held up a finger in front of Harry's face, shaking it slightly. "One last chance. And if I see no chance, I'll take my hands off you. You'll be house-less then, and trust me… you won't like that."

"Yes sir," Harry said obediently, wondering if he should make a short military salute too.

"Now I believe you're supposed to have-," Rosier fished an hour clock out of a pocket and grimaced at what he saw. "Lunch. Do you think you can handle it, or are you going to skip that too?" he raised a brow at Harry, who boldly returned it.

For one short moment, both men stared unrelenting at each other, and then Harry simply turned around and walked out of the room.

As he wandered through the corridors of Hogwarts, Harry smiled at himself. He would show him and everyone else that he was not the idiot they thought him to be. After all, the Harry from this place was, sadly enough, not alive anymore so he had no need to pretend to be him, as the lad had no way of continuing this life.

_Sorry pall._

The other students filled up the stairs and the corridors leading to the Great Hall and another dilemma popped up inside Harry's mind as he saw all those faces.

_What will happen if I just go in to eat lunch, pretending as if nothing happened... should I even go there in the first place? People will get suspicious if I'm not there. That girl Willow for instance. But if I DO go, they will surely question me about this morning and maybe other things which I don't know anything about. _

Harry scratched thoughtfully the back of his head and completely lost in thought he stopped in the middle of the corridor. He sighed as a picture of Hermione, making lists of positive and negative things and weighting them up against each other, popped up in his head.

Then suddenly someone bumped into him from behind.

"HEY! Watch where you're spacing out, Brainless!" shouted an annoyed voice and Harry stumbled forwards as he received a hard shove from the person the voice belonged to.

A small group of younger students walked past him, giving him dark looks and scowls. One of them, a boy with hair as black as Harry's own, gave him an ice-cold glare as he passed by.

Harry just rolled his eyes. _Geesh, they definitely don't like me much here and don't hesitate to show it. This is gonna be fun… notice the sarcasm._

He sighed and continued walking, his feet finding the Great hall in no time from having walked that route so many times. In the doorway, he stopped to look around and his eyes soon fell on Willow, who was sitting at the Hufflepuff table.

Thinking his best course of action would be to sit amongst people who knew him, he headed for her. But just as he was about to sit down besides her, the brown-haired girl stood up.

"You tell a certain lazy-ass that I won't talk to him until he tells me where he was!" she told a blonde boy sitting across of her.

Harry stared perplexed after her. Something really was up with that girl, but what? He sat down and reached for some buttered toast.

"So, where were you?"

He looked up to see two mischievous sparkling blue eyes; it is the blond to which Willow had been talking to.

"Me?" Harry asked just to make sure it was really him the Hufflepuff was talking to.

The blond chuckled amused. "No, I'm asking the Bogart behind you. Of course I mean you, you numskull!" he said the insult on a friendly tone, but Harry couldn't help feeling a bit peeved. After all, he didn't know the guy, even though the guy seemed to know him.

"None of your business," he answered coldly. The blond guy shrugged uncaring.

"You don't have to answer anyway, I can fathom a guess. But showing up in the robes of your lover? Really, not a smart move, man!"

"Nathan!" the blond's attention was drawn away from Harry as someone called out to him and Harry took this time to bite down on his toast and contemplate.

_The robes of my lover?_

He glanced down and then realized with a startle what must have been going on in the minds of the other students. He wore the Gryffindor crest on his robes while he was a Hufflepuff and he didn't spend the night in his so called dormitory.

So the conclusion they drew was that he slept with a girl who was a Gryffindor. _Just great so why is that girl angry about… oh shit, don't tell me…_

He shook his head to get rid of that thought. There was no way that she could be-perhaps she was just-oh god, what did fate have against him? He was unable to get a girlfriend in his own world, but his counterpart could? So unfair…

Harry shook his head again in disbelieve and bit viciously into another piece of toast. Realizing, it might taste better with jam on it, he glanced around and found it not very far away from him.

He reached out to it, only to have it snatched away from under his fingers. Harry stared flabbergasted at the person who had snitched it away, who scowled darkly at him.

"We lost 20 more points thanks to you," the guy hissed angry. Harry was perplexed for a moment, but then he felt the anger, which had been burning on a low pit deep inside of him, resurface with full force.

He was so sick of people treating him like dirt!

He stood abruptly up and stalked over to the guy, who had been sitting three seats away from him. He leaned threatening over the guy and took quick notice of the fear and confusion in the Hufflepuff's eyes.

"Do that again and I'll make that jam slam up your noise! Trust me… you won't like that," he hissed darkly.

And with that threat said, he stalked out of the Great Hall, leaving various people to stare oddly after him.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	9. Somewhere I Belong

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**9. Somewhere I Belong**

_What do I have but negativity  
'Cause I can't justify the way, everyone is looking at me  
[Nothing to lose]  
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone  
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own_

* * *

Stomping down a hallway with the anger again burning hotly in his veins, the Gryffindor-turned-Hufflepuff suddenly came to a halt beside a suit of armour, that was standing innocently in front of a wall. He yelled a loud and angry battle cry and then swung his fist as hard as he could at the breastplate of the armour.

However, before his fist could make as much as a dent into the aged metal, the armour took quickly a step to the side and Harry's fist landed on hard, unyielding stone.

A loud cracking sound could be heard and then the angered youth threw his head in his neck and yowled in pain.

"FUCK THIS!" he yelled loudly, his voice echoing through the hallway and making various portraits gasp in shock. "Fuck this-this-BLOODYHELLHOLE! AAAAAARGH! I HATE THIS PLACE!"

He was gasping for breath after his loud yell of outrage when a calm voice suddenly came from his side.

"What has that wall ever done to you?"

Harry whirled around and answered with an icy comment as soon as he saw who it was. "The same thing as you do: it exists," he snapped, ignoring his throbbing knuckles which were skinned and bleeding.

The silver-blond haired Slytherin stared for a moment oddly at him, but then his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Merlin, you really must have fallen out of the wrong side of your bed this morning," he stated coldly.

"Fuck off!" Harry just yelled back, wanting to be left alone so he could try to calm down. Being around Malfoy was not something that would make him calm. By Merlin, what if this time he burned the Slytherin to a crisp?

Part of him couldn't help but enjoy this thought, and he even came as far as to consider it, but then he heard the next words come out of his rival's mouth.

"I never knew you were such a bastard. And here I was going to offer healing your bloody hand!"

Harry glanced down and finally noticed his knuckles were painted red with blood. The ruined flesh started to throb again, begging for attention now that it was being noticed.

"Oh…" he said as he touched it lightly, only to hiss in pain when he did.

Malfoy was about to walk away when he saw how Harry's stance changed from pissed off angry to confused and subdued. He frowned and decided to follow his first instincts anyway.

He reached out to the green-eyed Hufflepuff. "Here, give me your hand," he ordered detached.

Harry looked startled up, wondering what Malfoy was up to. The Slytherin was staring at his hand and almost as if it had a free will on its own, Harry could feel his hand move into that of the other.

As the boy whipped out his wand, instinct made him try to withdraw his hand again, but Malfoy held his wrist in a firm grip. The wand tapped against his knuckles and the blood was cleared away with a quickly muttered spell. Then another healed the tissue and the third one, Harry recognized to be a pain-numbing spell. He had used that one quite a lot in the past on small cuts and such.

Malfoy let go of his wrist and put the wand back in some hidden pocket. He gazed aloof into Harry's confused eyes. "I see you can be polite when you need to be. Try that more and people might return the favour." And with those parting words he turned around and left.

This time it was Harry who was left standing baffled on the spot. Harry shook bewildered his head, thinking this dimension really was insane. In what world was Malfoy civil?

He started to walk through the hallways of Hogwarts, wondering where the hell he should go to. He had no idea where the Hufflepuff dorms were and that was probably the place where he could find his books. And he needed those if he were going to keep up his promise of being a so-called model student.

He didn't have to worry too much about it, for fate decided to throw him a bone. The blond Hufflepuff, Nathan, who had treated him with such familiarity during breakfast found him.

"Hey Harry, are you alright man?"

Harry shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"I've never seen you so mad! What made you angry like that?"

Harry was about to shrug again as a small plan formed inside of his head. "If you come with me to the dormitories, I will tell you what happened last night."

A grin found his way on Nathan's face as he quirked up a brow. "You will tell me everything? Well, if you insist..."

Harry grinned back at him, glad that his 'friend' took the bait. "Lead the way!"

They walked down the big marble stairs, through a number of corridors and then there was another stairs leading them down a dark hallway. It was lit by candles on the walls and Harry recognized the painting of a fruitsbasket.

"You know Harry, I'm glad I finally get to hear what's really going on! People are telling the craziest stories about you!"

"Really?" answered Harry a little annoyed, but curious at the same time. "Like what?"

"I heard a group of first years say you were resorted, they somehow thought the Sorting Hat had made a mistake, and you actually belong in Gryffindor! A few Ravenclaw girls believe you were locked up by the Slytherins, tortured all night and forced to wear Gryffindor robes. Someone said you just simply couldn't resist temptation."

_Temptation? What temptation?_

"Others think you just had detention all night, but when I asked them what for, they shrugged and mumbled something about stealing potions ingredients. And then there was this ridiculous guy who said you were somehow attacked by a three-headed dog and spent the night in the Hospital wing!" Nathan chuckled. "But still most people say you slept with a Gryffindor."

Harry managed to keep his face straight as he heard the part about a three-headed-dog, but frowned as he heard the last one. It was just as he had suspected. "Is that all?"

"No, but these are the funniest ones," said Nathan with the ever so present grin.

They arrived at a large wooden door. Or at least it looked like a door, but it lacked a doorknob and a keyhole. As far as Harry could see, there was no way to get in. _So this is it. Now for the password,_ thought Harry as he glanced from the corners of his eyes to his companion.

"**Hopscotch**," said Nathan clearly to the door and Harry tried to keep himself from laughing.

_Hopscotch... what kind of password is that?_

He stared expecting at the door, but it didn't move an inch. A glance to his side showed that Nathan had turned a full 180 degrees and now was facing the other wall. He whirled around too, only to see the bricks of the wall shifting not unlike those leading to Diagon Alley.

He couldn't help being a bit awed. The large door was a decoy? That was rather smart actually.

_20 points to Hufflepuff!_

He followed Nathan into the Hufflepuff common room, crossed it and then went through a small hallway with several doors. One on the doors led to supposedly their dorms and Harry walked hesitantly in, followed on the heels by Nathan.

He walked through the room, glancing at the trunks stationed at the foot of each bed as he walked by, and soon found one with the initials; HP. He sat down on the yellow bedspread, marvelling at the fact that it was so darn bright in these dorms. It could be because of the soft colouring of yellow everywhere.

No wonder the Hufflepuffs were considered to be the nice ones; it was nearly impossible to become angry in such an environment!

"So? Spill it!" Nathan commanded with a large grin plastered on his face. His eyes were sparkling in a way which reminded him of Ron, when the redhead knew something interesting. (Usually when it was about something that Hermione didn't know about yet.)

"Well, you see…" Harry started. He didn't really consider telling this guy, who apparently was a friend of this world's Harry, about what REALLY had happened. Nathan was not HIS friend. There was actually not one person in this darned world who he felt he could share it with.

Morgane didn't count; she was a statue.

"Last night, I lost my way, but when I turned around in this hallway and suddenly there was this door next to me. It opened to a bedroom and I figured I could sleep there. In the morning it provided me with theses robes, I have no idea though why they have the Gryffindor crest."

Nathan stared incredulous at him. "If you don't want to tell me, then you can just say it! Dammit Potter! You don't have to make up such bogus stories!"

He stalked angry away and Harry shrugged and stood up. There went his hypothesis about Hufflepuffs not getting angry because of the yellow.

Harry walked to the trunk with the initials HP and was happy to see that it appeared to be exactly the same as in his reality. But would this world's Harry have used the same hiding spot for the reserve key?

He let his fingers glide over the leather on the side, waiting for the familiar feeling of something metal under the soft texture, but not finding it. It was odd. Especially since the trunk was exactly the same; down to the large scratch on the side from where he had dropped the trunk. Yet the hiding spot for the key was different.

He frowned for a moment but then slapped his forehead as he realized something. "Merlin, where did I leave my brain this morning?"

Reaching into his pants pocket, he fished out a small chain with a key on it out of it. He held his breath as he put it in the lock, hoping that the lock was also the same.

It was.

With a sigh of relief, Harry started to rummage though its intents. He recognized a few books from his own world, but most of them were unfamiliar. There were a few items that looked rather expensive and which Harry would never even consider buying. Petunia sure had made him conscious about how to spend money wisely.

And then when he swept a few parchments to the side, he found a picture frame with its back exposed. He took it out of the trunk and turned it around in his hands to see what picture was in it.

He almost dropped it when he saw the photo. It was the exact same picture he had in his photo album given to him by Hagrid back home. It showed a young Lily and James holding baby Harry.

He blinked and rubbed with a hand over his eyes to keep himself from spilling any tears. He quickly searched through the trunk for more pictures, but found none and he sat heavily down. He leant his arms on the edge of the trunk and buried his face into the cloth of his sleeve.

He should have known. Fate didn't like him, so why had he even hoped for a chance that maybe, maybe in this world they could have been alive. But the picture in his hand, the only one there appeared to be of them, gave him a clear answer.

They were dead.

"I hate this place… really… I do," he mumbled softly as he stared down at the picture, one thumb caressing the side of it as he watched his father bend over to give not only Lily, but also baby Harry a kiss on the forehead.

The door suddenly slammed open and sheer survival instinct made Harry drop the frame and jump to his feet, wand already in his hand and aimed at the unexpected intruder.

It appeared to be a brown-haired guy who didn't pay any attention to him. The guy jumped on a bed and dived from it onto another bed where he made a roll and landed neatly beside the bed. He grabbed a bag with books from the nightstand.

Harry stood there watching the boy speechlessly, his wand still dangling in his hand when the guy finally noticed him.

"Hurry up, Harry! Snape is not gonna be pleased if we're late!" And which those words he ran out of the room.

Harry started open-mouthed at the open door, but then shook himself out of his baffled state, grabbed the potionbooks out of the trunk and locked it.

_Who was that guy?_

Harry was in awe at the way he had moved through the room in mere seconds. And in one fluent motion! It had almost looked like a well practiced technique to dodge curses or at least fast enough to not be hit by any.

If only Harry could have moved like that in the forest…

He made a mental note to inquire to the guy about where or how he learned that and put the potionbooks in the bag on his bed and walked out of the dormitories.

Snape was waiting.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	10. Get off My Back

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**10. Get off My Back**

_Well you think that you can take me on  
You must be crazy  
There ain't a single thing you've done  
That's gonna phase me_

* * *

Harry sat with his head leaning on his left hand at a table, writing with his right hand potions procedures in his notebook. Was he to sit like this in his own world's Potionsclass; he would have lost all his housepoints already! Here Snape just didn't seem to care.

From the moment he had stepped into class, Snape's glare had guided him to a single desk at the front of the class that was bare of potion ingredients and utensils.

Apparently Snape didn't trust Harry to be able to brew a potion without catastrophic results and it was expected of the Hufflepuff to sit, watch and make notes. If he even dared to look at someone else's potion, Snape took away points!

Harry thought this to be a bit drastic. His world's Neville had been a big screw up in class and still got to follow normal potionlessons and was not expected to stay quietly in a corner like he was now. He couldn't be worse than that!

Could he?

Never minding that, it had to be illegal for Snape to deny him from getting any practical experience. What about when he got his Newts? How was he supposed to do those when he never got to touch anything in class? How was he supposed to pass Potions like this!

The Universe Hopper was understandably rather peeved at his position. He didn't really enjoy Potions, but to have people think he was too stupid to brew a simple Healing Draught was not something he appreciated.

Harry held his quill a bit too tightly in his grasp and it broke in half, making a large ink stain appear on his notes. He cursed softly under his breath, but not soft enough since Snape still heard it.

"Is there something wrong, Mister Potter?" Professor Snape's silky voice suddenly asked from his side and Harry quickly leaned away from the man.

"No sir, nothing wrong sir," he said quickly, remembering his promise to professor Rosier to be a 'good' student.

Snape's slanted eyes glanced from his face, over to the broken quill and ended up staring at the ruined notes. "Write it again. You'll get a written test tomorrow when the others have their practical." He stood straight up again and moved away to badger another student.

Harry frowned, feeling miserable. This sucked big time.

After the abnormally boring Potions lesson, Harry slowly trudged towards his next class, which appeared to be Muggle Studies.

In his own world, in his year only the purebloods had to follow that class, but perhaps he was raised in a pureblood family here? He was near the appointed classroom when he realized it might not be the same place where it was taught in his world.

Thankfully enough, a quick glance into the room proved he was at the right place and he sat down next to a Gryffindor girl.

The girl gave him only a swift glance, but Harry could feel she was curious about something. Also the fact that she kept glancing at him from the corners of her eyes gave it away. It was probably because of the scene he'd made that morning and Harry suppressed a sullen groan.

"Good afternoon class."

"Good afternoon Professor Whist," the class answered overall politely.

Harry glanced at the professor and recognized it to be the man who he had seen a few times in the hallways. The man smiled broadly at his students and held up a few papers.

"It's time for a short oral pop-quiz!" he said enthusiastically and chuckled when he heard various groans and moans. "Oh come on, you must know this all or else you'll flunk during the actual exams!"

Professor Whist glanced around the class. "Mister Feuer," he glanced at his paper. "What do Muggles use to clean their dishes?"

"Um… they do it by hand?"

The professor nodded amiable. "True, but what do the richer Muggles own?"

"Wait, I know that one!" exclaimed the Hufflepuff thought deeply for a moment. "A Laundromat!" he finally answered with a proud grin.

"Aw, sorry to say, but they use those to wash their clothes. Does anyone else know the answer?"

The students shrugged and glanced around to see if anyone else knew it. Apparently no one did and Harry rolled his eyes, then raised his hand.

"Yes Mister Potter? I do hope you're not going to ask me to make the questions less difficult, like you did last time."

"It's a dishwasher," Harry said, ignoring the fact that again he was being underestimated.

All the students turned to look startled at him, as to see if it was really Harry who had given that answer. Harry, the one they'd know to be lazy and dumb concerning schoolwork and who even went as far as to ask at the first lesson of the year what a Muggle was.

Whist was equally baffled and stared strangely at his student. "That answer is correct. You just earned Hufflepuff ten points, Misterr. Potter, congratulations," Whist said and a small smile appeared on his face. Perhaps there still was hope for the boy.

After this astonishing performance of intellect, the lesson was filled with boring information about Muggles, all of which Harry already knew. He had grown up amongst Muggles for Merlin's sake!

But they didn't expect him to know anything beyond his probably once in a lifetime right answer. The Harry of this world was a bloody nimrod...

Luckily time went by rather fast and soon all classes were over and done. He still was a bit dazed about actually being in a different world. What the heck was he supposed to do now? He decided to go outside and let the cold winter-air clear his head.

As he walked through the hallways Harry heard someone running after him and he turned around to watch his so-called friend Nathan run up to him.

"Hey Harry! Do you want me to help you write that paper about 'Muggles and elektrikity'? We can do it together if you want to!"

"Sure," he answered after giving it a short thought and he gave the blond-what he hoped looked like-a thankful grin. "I'll meet up with you after dinner in the Library."

_It is 'Electricity'. Guess, I'll be the one giving the help tonight._

The lake outside was grey, reflecting the dark clouds in the sky; it would probably start to snow again soon. There were only a few other students wandering around in the cold and of course there was Hagrid at the edge of the forest trying to-what appeared to be-dig into the frozen ground. He probably still was the Gamekeeper.

_Guess he never got around teaching_, Harry thought as he sat down under a tree near the water and he quickly cast a spell to make sure he wouldn't freeze his bits off. His eyes followed the large man with a bit of longing. After all, it had been quite normal for him and his two best friends to go to Hagrid after a long and stressful day.

The half-giant probably didn't know him too well here, so no Rock Cakes for Harry. And Hermione…

Harry frowned. Morgane said she was a Slytherin, but how different could she be? What about Ron? Was he anything like his Ron? He's a Quidditch player and in Gryffindor, so that is still the same.

The emerald eyed teen sighed deeply and leaned his head against the tree bark to look up at the cloudy sky. It would start to snow soon and then he would have to go back into the castle again. He would have to go and meet with people who knew him, but who not 'knew' him. Not really. And people he knew, but who had never even heard of him!

_Perhaps it's for the better. No people who see me as the Boy-Who-Lived. No secrets and lies about me spread by the daily Prophet. No pictures. No Deatheaters trying to kill me. No constant pressure. No fights with Malfoy..._

Harry shot right up as he realized something incredible. He was just an ordinary student here! Here, there was Neville as the world's saviour. They didn't expect Harry to be their Golden Hero and defeat Voldemort; they expected Neville to do so.

A small grin spread on Harry's face. "I can consider it as some sort of vacation!" he said triumphant, but his elated mood was interrupted by a distinctive cry coming from the Forbidden Forest.

Harry jumped to his feet and stared distrustful at the woods. Just moments later he could see something fly up above a tree and then drop amongst the branches again. It had been rather far away, but seemed like a vulture of some sort.

Harry glanced up to the sky above him just in time to receive a large flock of snow on his glasses and decided he had been long enough outside. It would be better if he headed in before the snow really would fall down.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *


	11. Somebody Hates Me

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**11. Somebody Hates Me**

_I just made an enemy of someone I_ _don't know  
And they are upset about something that I  
Must have done. It really doesn't make much  
Sense well I've got no statement in my defense_

* * *

Harry was at a spot where he could choose to go either left or right. Left, he knew, would lead him to Morgane and that was his destination. Yet, from the right he could hear odd noises which were just begging to be investigated.

Perhaps right was the Right way.

He slowly stalked into the hallway and followed the sounds which led him to a black with gold cabinet. Someone was banging on it from the inside and Harry could hear a muffled voice.

Not taking any risk in case it was a Boggart, Harry pointed his wand at the cabinet. "_Alohomora_."

It was suddenly silent and ever so slowly the door opened and a small boy shakily got out of it. He blinked against the sudden light and held a hand above his blue eyes as he squinted up at Harry.

Harry stared confused down at the small boy, who probably was a first year. "Hello there, do you make it a habit to hide in cabinets?" he asked on a light tone of voice.

The boy blushed a bit and dropped his hand, clearly feeling embarrassed about his situation and he started to drag a foot in circles over the ground. "They locked me in it," he admitted.

Harry put his wand in the sleeve of his robe and raised a brow. "Who did? Your friends?"

The boy scowled. "No, some Gryffindor boys."

"Why would they do that?"

The boy shrugged. "I dunno, I hoped that since I'm in Ravenclaw they would leave me alone, but…"

Now this was interesting; Gryffindors bullying Ravenclaws? Wasn't it supposed to be Slytherins who did the bullying?

"But?"

The boy looked up again and Harry could see his distress about how unfair life was on his face. "It's because my whole family is in Slytherin. They said the Sorting Hat made a mistake and that I should have been in Slytherin too and that makes me a slimy snake so they wanted to get rid of me by putting me in the Vanishing Cabinet!"

Harry was silent for a moment as he thought about the boy's words. That was right, it didn't matter what house you were in. Even Gryffindors would turn onto you when they thought you were something remotely 'Slytherin-ish'. He had found that out in person during his second year.

He surprised the boy by smiling and putting a hand on Ravenclaw's head. "I happen to like snakes."

The boy smiled hesitatingly, not knowing whether he should take Harry's remark as a compliment or not.

Harry glanced at the cabinet. "I'm glad it didn't vanish. You could have been stuck in there for a long time, or disappeared completely."

The boy sighed and Harry ruffled with his hand through the boy's brown hair. "There will always be biased and bigoted people around you, just try to find some good friends and you will find that those other people are just to be pitied."

The boy shrugged, not really understanding him. "Uh, thanks again. I'm going to my dormitory now, if I can find it."

"Need some help?"

"No. I mean; I will have to learn to find it myself, so I'd better start now."

Harry grinned, that sounded familiar. "Good luck then."

The boy gave him a small smile and Harry watched amused how the Ravenclaw ran off in search for his dorm.

Harry turned away and started to walk back, again on his way to the statue of Morgane. Unfortunately, when he went around a corner, someone else had the same idea, at the exact same time.

Two bodies slammed into each other and Harry fell down on his back while the other collapsed sideways and banged his knee harshly against the wall.

Harry started to apologize when he recognized the boy to be the same one who had sent him the ice-cold glare that morning, when he was making his way to the Great Hall! He was the black haired Gryffindor with the equally unfriendly looking friends.

The boy cursed and rubbed his knee. "Now what? Oh, it's you. Off to see your lover, Lothario?" he growled and snorted. "I don't believe a loser like you could be dating one of our Gryffindors!"

Harry gave him a dirty look, but didn't wait for the guy to say more. He had been through worse than this verbal bashing and besides, he had more important business to attend to.

He stood up without bothering to say something to the boy. He was already a few feet away when he heard the boy mutter something crude under his breath and he stopped abruptly.

Now, he was used to hear odd rumors about his person, and he knew how to ignore them. But damned if he was going to let a smart-mouthed brat insult him behind his back!

He turned around and stared with ire at the boy, who had been rubbing over his sore knee. The boy looked up, feeling Harry's stare on him, and seemed shocked by Harry's expression.

"Never, ever, call me that again," he spat curtly and took a step back to the boy, who stood straight up trying not to look intimidated. He was a few inches shorter than Harry.

"Don't piss me off, brat. I'm already running out of patience and you won't like it when I reach the end."

Knowing that Harry himself wouldn't like the results of that either, he quickly strode away. He was already three corridors away from the boy when he remembered he was heading for Morgane. He altered his course and soon found himself in front of the statue.

"Good afternoon Harry. It is pleasant to see you again," Morgane smiled and nodded regally at him. "How has your day been in my dimension? Surely a lot must have happened; do not refrain from sharing your experiences with me."

Harry smiled in greeting. "Hi Morgane, it's great to see you again too. And yeah, a lot has happened."

"Please tell."

"Can I first ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you know who or what a 'Lothario' is?"

"Lothario? It's a character from a play, my dear. His name is used to describe men who seduce and deceive women."

Harry scowled. "It's not positive then…"

"Far from it."

"That little brat! Next time I see him I will shove-"

"Harry, who are you talking about? And do you remember our talk about self-control?"

Harry shrugged halfheartedly. "Guess that's why I'm here now."

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_The bird from the last chapter was an Augurey, predicting Rain & Doom._


	12. Changes

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**12. Changes**

_I try to hold this under control  
They can't help me 'cause no one knows  
Now I'm going through changes,  
changes_

* * *

Morgane and Harry conversed for hours. The ancient statue explained to the teen about elemental beings and how one's emotions greatly influence the use of their elemental power.

Since Harry had nearly no control over his, he was ordered to practice several techniques which could help him relax and clear his thoughts. These exercises were not unlike the ones Snape had told him to do before trying Occlumency, but this time he had a teacher who actually _taught_ him.

"How come you're such an explosive character, Harry?" Morgane finally asked after she had suggested for him to stop. Harry slid down against the wall opposite her and took his glasses off so he could rub with a hand over his arching brow.

"I dunno, kept everything inside, I guess." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I've always had a bit of a temper-or so I've been told-and here it's gotten even worse. I want to lash out at people for treating me the way they do. A teacher took 30 points away for forgetting to bring my books. 30 points! How biased is that? Besides that, it feels like everybody underestimates me."

"But?"

"But… I keep remembering how I… I'm dangerous. I shouldn't lose control! Next time I might accidentally kill Dumbledore and be send off to Azkaban."

"He is already-"

Harry ranted on, somehow happy to get this finally off his chest. "I already feel so bad about killing this world's Harry." He sighed deeply. "And I'm confused. My brain feels all scrambled. I don't know what to think or do anymore. I don't know how to react to certain people, because they really aren't like the people I remember. Some of them already are suspicious of me-I'm not acting like I'm supposed to be-"

"I guess it must be a bit difficult for you."

"A lot difficult," he gave her a tired smile. "I really want to go home."

"So you decided you _do_ want to go back."

"I briefly thought about not going back, but I was being irrational at that moment. Of course I want to go back! My friends and family are there. They need me, and I need them!"

Morgane nodded. "They must be missing you too, Harry. So you'd better start to search for a way back. I shall see if I can find out anything by use of the portraits. You should try to write down everything you remember of the incident; perhaps it will be helpful for your research."

Harry nodded in agreement, already making a mental note to sneak into the Headmaster's Office.

"Harry," Morgane suddenly said, startling the boy out of his thoughts. "Have you entertained the thought that you can train yourself here to have an advantage when you get back to your own Dimension?"

"Uh... no?"

"Think about it then. Try to see being here as an opportunity for you, an opportunity to develop yourself, to develop your Elemental."

"Okay, I'll think about it." He glanced at his watch and shot up. "I'm supposed to meet someone in the library! Damn, I'm already late, and I forgot dinner."

"You'd better hurry then, perhaps your friend brought something with him for you."

Harry nodded his thanks to the statue and hurried towards the library. For the first time in days he felt at ease. The exercises had worn him out and he felt content for finally being able to put things in perspective.

Nathan was already waiting in the library and apparently having trouble with his homework. Harry dumped his bag on the table, making the blonde jump up with fright.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

Nathan grinned good-natured and waved his apology away. "Don't worry; I'm already used to it."

Harry frowned. Okay; that would be one of the things that had to change.

"Well, you shouldn't be used to it. It won't happen again!" He pulled out a piece of parchment and started to work on his essay. Nathan glanced confused from the bag to Harry.

"Don't you need your books?"

Harry glanced up at his companion and shrugged blasé. "I can do it by heart."

Nathan seemed to have trouble with believing that, but concentrated on his work again. They worked diligently for a while, but after Harry heard Nathan sigh for the umpteenth time, he looked up again. "What's wrong?"

"I don't understand this."

Harry leaned over the table. "What part?"

"These batteries."

Harry chuckled and was about to change his seat from opposite the other to next to him, so he could explain it easier, when his stomach growled loudly.

He blushed at Nathan's startled face. "I-uh, forgot dinner."

"Really? I thought you were eating somewhere else with your lover."

Harry gave him an annoyed look. "I didn't. Grab your books." He ordered and took his own bag off the table.

"Huh, what? Why?"

"We are going to the kitchens where I can have something to eat and I'll explain to you all about batteries."

Nathan followed him baffled. "You know where the kitchens are?"

Harry gave him a sly grin over his shoulder. "Of course I do. I'm not totally good for nothing," he said jokingly.

**To Be Continued**

* * *


	13. Find Yourself

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**13. Find Yourself**

_When you find yourself  
In some far off place  
And it causes you to rethink some things_

_You start to sense that slowly  
You're becoming someone else  
And then you find yourself  
When you make new friends_

* * *

"I don't understand," the blond complained while he and Harry were crossing the hallways to Hogwarts' kitchens.

"How?! How do people 'charge' and 're-charge' those batteries? It must be impossible to get that much electrikit-…err…electricity in such a small thing as a battery," stated Nathan befuddled.

"Think of it as an _Extension Charm_," said Harry. "On the outside it's small, but it contains far more than what you'd expect."

Nathan still looked very puzzled after what Harry thought was a clear explanation, so he tried to explain it further. "You see? It's like when you-"

"No-no-it's clear, I understand," Nathan interrupted him waving his hands to stop him from talking. "It's just that you're so…er…" he didn't seem able to find the right words to describe what he meant.

Harry tried not to snort. Perhaps the guy was trying to say 's_mart_?' without insulting him?

He spared Nathan from embarrassment by pointing to the familiar painting of a fruitsbasket, not unlike the one in front of the Hufflepuff dorms, except that one also had a candle and a skull in it's picture. "Here it is."

He chuckled and hid his smirk behind a hand as Nathan hesitantly approached the painting. The blond turned around to give him an incredulous look and Harry tried to make his face blank again.

"You're not pulling me a '_Weasley_' are ya??"

"I '_Weasley_' you not," Harry answered, trying to keep from laughing out loud. So the twins still had the reputation of being pranksters here? That was very good to hear. It showed that some things really would never change.

"So… tickle the pear?"

"Yes."

"And the teachers won't find out?"

"Don't tell me you're a boneless flubberworm!"

"Hey! I might not be a Gryffindor, but I'm no flubberworm!" Nathan quickly turned around and tickled the pear. It squeaked surprised and then the painting slid aside.

As they entered the kitchens, the first thing that Nathan did was glance impressed around.

The kitchens were large and filled with everything a top-chef could ever wish for. The walls were lined with wooden planks, holding up silver plates, bowls, china, cups, pots, mugs, pitchers, pottery, forks, knives and spoons in various sizes.

Nathan recognised beautifully carved Gryffindor Lions on the little doors of a cupboard nearby and glancing around, he noticed three other small cupboards. Each had a House-animal carved on the wooden surface and Nathan figured that was where the plates and utensils of the students were.

_Though how they can they all fit in those small-?_

Nathan blinked and almost slapped with a hand against his forehead. What had he and Harry been talking about just now! Extension charms. Of course!

He turned around to where he thought Harry was, so he could tell him how awesome it was that they could be here, when he noticed that the other wizard was being mobbed by house elves.

Were the small creatures angry that they had entered the kitchens?

He quickly went to Harry's side and heard to his great surprise how the guy greeted a house elf as if it was a friend of his.

"Hello Petrol," Harry said, recognizing one of the many house elves. The house elf seemed delighted that Harry recognized him and ushered him into a chair, soon Nathan too was dumped with the uttermost care into a chair at a large, empty table.

"Do the masters require something?"

"I forgot to eat dinner, Petrol. Do you perhaps still have something for me to eat? And some pumpkin-juice, please?" he glanced at Nathan. "And I think my, _friend _here would like some pumpkin-juice too."

"It is not good for master not to eat! Petrol shall make master something good to eat!" The house elf shuttered away to do his task while the other elves gave them pumpkin-juice and also a small plate with chocolate cookies.

Nathan grinned at Harry. "Merlin's beard, it's amazing here. They are treating you like a king. It's incredible!"

Harry shrugged. "They are kind creatures and I'm just glad that they are so willing to help. If not I would starve to death, don't you think?"

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, amazing to think that you always used to be obsessed with food and now you keep forgetting to have dinner. Perhaps next time I should drag you with me?"

"Perhaps that's a good idea, yeah."

"What happened anyway? I mean, a few weeks ago you suddenly became so stand-offish and now you're more social again but, I dunno, there's still something off about you. Um, not that it's a bad thing! Just... different."

Harry was silent for a moment as he thought about Nathan's words. This was something new. The Harry of this world had been acting weird before Harry arrived in this world? Could it be that the other Harry was responsible for it? Had he been planning for Harry to arrive here? Perhaps he approached Harry to greet him? No impossible, he was trying to kill him. He even did send the Death curse at him!

"I don't know. I just have been thinking. Thinking about my life and I figured I had to change my way of life."

"Is it because of the girl you've been seeing? Oh sorry, I mean 'the girl you're NOT seeing'."

"Seriously, there's no girl."

"... a guy then?"

Harry scrunched up his face at the thought. "Ew, no."

"Hey, there's nothing 'ew' about it! Stanley and Gregory are gay and you never had a problem with it before!"

"I don't have a problem with it! It's just that I don't fancy blokes."

"Hmm... think you're asexual?"

"Why are you questioning my sexuality!!!"

"Because you've changed!" Nathan paused as he saw a group of house elves, led by Petrol, coming their way.

"Oh look Harry! Food!"

"Here masters," said Petrol as the small group of elves bowed for them. They had just arrived with plates and pans full of the most delicious food a hungry student could ever wish for. "You eat all the food you want. Petrol is pleased to have master and friend and pleased to make them feel at home."

Nathan grinned at Harry. "We mustn't let their hard work go to waste!"

They ate what they could and afterwards, Harry thanked Petrol who was ready to burst out in tears again.

Nathan waved to Petrol and the others. "Bye guys and thanks! See ya next time!"

As Harry and Nathan walked back through the corridor to the Hufflepuff Common Rooms, the blond spoke up.

"Hey Harry, do you think that house elves have a social life?" he randomly asked.

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Hey Nathan, do you think that you can get drunk by drinking pumpkin juice?"

"That's a no then, isn't it? How about the teachers then!? Is Rosier married?"

"Nathan!"

It appeared that Nathan had a habit of letting his mouth run off. So when they stumbled into another familiar person, when they were near the Hufflepuff Common Rooms, Harry was a bit relieved to not hear the blond talk anymore.

Who in his right mind would ever want to know the dating patterns of teachers? Hm, would Nathan feel insulted if he were to ask if the blond was actually a girl? To come back to the unsuspected encounter; they were turning a corner when they saw a guy jump down from a small side table, which was standing innocently next to an open window.

Nathan, Harry and the newcomer stood for a moment frozen and then Nathan glanced from the guy to the open window. "Do I even want to know, Jay?"

The other shook grinning his head and leaned towards the window to close it again.

It didn't take more than a second for Harry to recognize him as the acrobatic guy from their dorms.

Jay turned back to them and fixed his eyes on Harry. "Oh Harry, I forgot to compliment you on shutting up Terry this morning. He sure had it coming."

Harry could only suspect that Terry was the annoying guy from that morning with the jam.

"He totally bailed out on dinner. Probably afraid you'd use your threat and shove a potato up his nose. Oh, and a warning: Wicket is checking out all the tall girls in Gryffindor. I think she's looking for the one who could be your secret lover."

Harry scowled. "I'm not seeing a Gryffindor girl."

"No? … a Gryffindor guy then?"

"There is no secret lover! By Merlin!" Harry threw his hands in the air and stalked away from them. This was getting ridiculous. He stopped abruptly as Nathan called out to him.

"Harry! The dormitories are this way!"

Harry turned back around and stalked past the two Hufflepuffs, muttering "I knew that," and trying to ignore Nathan's chuckling and Jay's amused grin.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	14. Stranger in my House

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**14. Stranger in My House**

_There's a stranger in my house  
It took a while to figure out  
There's no way you could be who you say you are  
You gotta be someone else_

* * *

It had been the first night that Harry spent sleeping in Hufflepuff Dormitories and thankfully it was a very peacefull sleep. He figured it could have been because he'd spend the evening before in comerady with his 'new' friends, Jay and Nathan.

The three boys had spoken about what had happened during their day and Harry had gotten the chance to ask Jay why he's congratulated him for threatening the guy from lunch. This was something that had been bothering Harry's concience for a while, as it was one of the few positive comments Harry'd recieved so far.

The brown haired Hufflepuff had shrugged in response, saying something about how Terry was an annoying prick. Nathan fully agreed on that. His other reasoning was that Harry had earned some points back during Muggle Studies, hadn't he? So that showed he did care about earning their housepoints back.

The three of them promised each other to earn back those points in the following week and Harry realized that his earlier opinion of Nathan had drastically changed.

Hufflepuffs weren't that bad...

So it was fully rested and content that Harry woke up in a world of yellow. This time, as he was surrounded by warm yellow blankets, he realized immidiately where he was.

His two friends dragged him to the Great Hall to eat breakfast and Harry realized, as he glanced about, that he felt better at ease in this place with familiar strangers.

"No seriously," Nathan was conversing with Jay about their favourite topic of the late. "It could be!"

Jay chuckled as he glanced at Harry beside him. "You really believe Professor McGonagall is dating him?"

Harry looked abrubtly up to glare at the two; they only laughed in good fun.

"Don't make crude jokes." Harry ordered them. He reached out to his glass of pumpkinjuice when a shiver traveled up his spine. Someone was paying him too much attention; he could feel it.

As he halted in the movement, he let his eyes glide through the hall only to land on the silver ones of none other than Draco Malfoy.

Harry raised questioning a brow when he realized that the Slytherin had been staring intently at him. Malfoy's gaze ventured discreetly down and Harry followed the gaze that landed on his hand.

Not knowing what to do, he raised the hand and thoughtlessly twirled a spoon around. It made a small smile appear on the Slytherin's lips before he glanced away.

_Did Malfoy only want to check if my hand was healed? _

He turned back towards his friends when he noticed yet another person staring at him. This time it was Neville Longbottom a.k.a. the Boy Who Lived of this world, who was trying to glance unsuspiciously into his direction.

The Gryffindor quickly looked down at his food when Harry caught him staring and Harry frowned in suspicion. This odd interest in his person from both Draco Malfoy as Neville Longbottom disturbed Harry. It made him feel like something fishy was going on.

Harry flinched slightly as someone roughly tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention. It was his supposed girlfriend, Wicket, who seemed to simmer with anger. Her eyes flashed with ill-hidden ire as they bore into Harry's.

"We need to talk, Harry James Liir Potter! Not only have you been avoiding me for weeks, you also cheated on me and everybody knows it! I want to know who it is, right now! Are you dumping me for her? Is she prettier than me?"

The angry, and slightly desperate, words seemed to flow out of the young witch's mouth and Harry quickly stood up. He stopped her waterfall of accusations by holding a hand over her mouth and then for a moment he stared at her deviant looking face.

_Why had she gone out with this world's Harry? What had she seen in the guy, which no one else had?_

She grabbed his wrist, pulled the hand away from her face and opened her mouth again, probably in order to continue her rant. Harry gave her a tentative smile.

I _must resolve this._

"Will you please follow me outside?"

"I'm-" she seemed surprised at his calm reaction. "I'm not following you anywhere!"

"Please come with me outside. Please?"

The girl gave Harry a haughty glare, but walked with him out of the Great Hall. There, they stood for a moment in awkward silence in front of the the marble staircase. It was Harry who spoke first.

"There is no other girl, I can tell you that."

"Are you shagging a guy then?!" Wicket demanded to know.

Harry's eye started to develop a nervous twitch. Did everybody in this world think if there wasn't a girl in his life, there had to be a boy?!

"No, not a guy either."

"Then what's going on with you?! You've been avoiding me! Not talking to me!" Tears of frustration started to form in her eyes.

"You're my boyfriend! You should be with me sometimes, but you're pretending that I'm not here! I've tried to come to you, but each time you push me away! You don't pay me any attention. You ignore me, what have I done to deserve this?'

_Ignore her? Pretend she's not there? Pushing her away? I can't remember doing that. Well, I suppose that since at first I wasn't aware that she's this Harry's girlfriend, I might have been ignoring her. But... this sounds like something that has been going on for a longer while... not just 3 days!_

"When did I started to act like this?" he murmered, not directing it to her as a question, but still staying it loud enough for her to hear.

Wicket crossed her arms and scowled. "Since two weeks ago. You stood me up at a Hogsmeade weekend. It figures that you've forgotten about it."

"I'm sorry for that."

_Should I tell her about me being from another dimension?_

"I'm sure you are."

_No, better not._

"And I'm also sorry for this." He took a deep breath. "I think we should break up."

She uncrossed her arms, clearly not have expected that. "What? Why? Why are you breaking up with me? I need to know a reason!"

Harry scratched the back of his head. This was probably one of the most uncomfortable situations he'd ever faced; no offense to Voldemort.

"It's not you, it's me."_Gah, WRONG words_. "I mean. I started to think about my life. And you must be the first to admit that I've been a lazy prat who didn't give a damn about school and such."

She gave him half a smile, indicating that he was right, and it gave him the courage to continue.

"And I thought that a serious change in attitude was in order. I need to start taking studying serious. I need to take other people's feelings more into concideration and more. And in this situation I don't think it's fair for me to keep dating you, while I don't feel the same as I used to."

Harry took a deep breath but Wicket stopped him from talking any further. She chuckled morosely.

"It figures that the first time you listen to my advice, it are my own words that causes us to break up."

_Huh?_

"For what it's worth: we had some great times together." Wicket leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. After that she walked calmly away, leaving Harry startled behind.

Harry gave a big sigh. "I NEVER wish to go through that again."

"I can imagine that."

Harry whirled around and met Draco Malfoy's cool eyes.

"Has it healed fully?" he asked, before Harry could find an appropriate response.

The silence that fell seemed to last minutes. Harry looked at his hand and then back at the Slytherin. Was this a friendly comment or a stupid Malfoy-joke? Since when did Malfoy pay any attention to Harry's well-being? But what insult could be hidden in a tiny sentence like that? Harry frowned confused.

"Yes," he simply muttered and walked back into the Great Hall to fetch his bag.

_What a fine way to start the day. I wonder what's next..._

"Harry!"

He heard his name being called from the other side of the Great Hall. He looked up and saw Nathan waving at him from the Hufflepuff table. Harry smiled back and realised he'd been going for the Gryffindor table instead.

Grinning to himself he took over his schoolbag from Nathan.

"What are you laughing at, Harry? C'mon, it's time for Snape!"

Harry didn't know himself why he was laughing. Was it left-over nerves from his break-up with Wicket? Was it Malfoy's near-friendly behaviour? The fact that he was in bloody Hufflepuff? Or that his two best friends weren't his friends anymore?

He didn't know, nor could he find it in himself to care.

All he knew was that if he dawdled any longer he would be late to Snape's lesson!

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	15. Have You Ever

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**15. Have you ever  
**_  
Have you ever been at someplace  
Recognizing everybody's face  
Until you realized  
That there was no one there you knew?_

* * *

**  
**Nathan and Harry quickly went to the Potions classroom already seeing from afar how Snape was standing menacing in the dooropening. He looked like some sort of wrathfull creature. Harry wouldn't keep it past the Potions Master to close the door right in front of their faces, but interesting enough they were still allowed to enter.

Harry immidiately steered towards the lonely desk that had been appointed his and sat down with a sigh. He was about to dutifully take his books out of his bag when he remembered Snape had mentioned a test.

And indeed; while the class had a practical exam, Harry was forced to do a written test. A very difficult test, though Harry could fill in quite a lot, thanks to his studying with Hermione.

'_Honestly Harry,'_ he could hear his Hermione's voice in his head. '_You don't just throw in the boomslang, you must shred it. No, no! You're doing it all wrong. The mushrooms go in before the konijnendust. Try to remember that, Harry! Stirr anti-clockwise!" _

He chuckled as he remembered another preach about one potion or the other and was again able to fill in a question.

He was pondering on a question he could vaguely remember the answer to, when he glanced distracted up and noticed how Snape's harsh stare was fixed upon him. He stared blankly back, wondering what the man wanted. Snape frowned and appeared to try and dissect Harry with his eyes, but then his attention snapped to another person.

"Stirr that potion anti-clockwise, Miss Antonsen," he ordered and Harry ducked his head to hide the grin on his face. Somehow it was very ironic to hear Snape say exactly the same as Hermione, even though it was only from a memory.

This however brought Snape's attention back on Harry, as he had noticed the grin, and he stalked over to the boy. He snatched the test out of Harry's hands and quickly scanned the answers. Apparently he didn't find them to his satisfaction and he scowled down at Harry.

"Cheating, Mister Potter?" He asked on a tone which suggested it was not a question but a statement.

Harry stood up. "I am not! How do you suggest I am cheating now?" he demanded to know.

All eyes were set on the scene as Snape stared down his nose at Harry. "Five points from Hufflepuff for yelling at a teacher. Are you saying that you know this all by heart Potter, while you're even unable to make the easiest colour-changing potion?"

Harry didn't have any particular interest in brewing, but now his fingers were itching to show what he could to Snape.

"I can brew **anything** when I don't have a slimy, greasy git breathing down my neck all the time!" Harry spat back. The insult was followed by several girls gasping and a lot of shocked whispers.

"Twenty points, Potter." Snape hissed and slammed the test hard onto Harry's table. But then he raised a brow and leaned closer to Harry.

"Anything you said?" The man smirked cruelly. "I will test you then. If you're not able to do it, then you shall stop attending my class and receive a Poor on your report at the end of the year."

Harry didn't need any time to think it over. "That is a deal!"

"Alright Mister Potter. Brew me the _Amantes Sunt Amentes_ potion."

Harry blinked confused and was literally struck speechless. He had never heard of it, nor anything that sounded like it. There also was something suspiscious about Snape giving him this chance to prove himself, instead of sending him out of class to be punished by Filch.

Snape smirked sadistically and made a small motion with his hand to the door. "Good bye Mister Potter."

That was more like the Snape he knew! Harry grabbed angry his bag and stormed out of class.

Nathan shook his head in disbelief as he watched his best friend go. "Can you think of a time when Harry was this weird?" he whispered to Jay on his right side, who shook his head in denial.

"Something's seriously up with him."

* * *

Harry was about to storm mindlessly though the hallway when he remembered Morgane's excercise. He leaned against a wall, closed his eyes and tried to calm down his breathing and temper.

Fortunately, it worked.

Sure Snape was a git, no matter what world he lived in. Sure Harry had the right to be angry at him, but it wouldn't help him one bit! He pushed away the angry feeling and tried to think clearly. A quick glance at his watch told him that he still had quite a long time before his next lesson.

He quickly grabbed a quill and a small piece of paper to scribble down the potion Snape had mentioned and then went on his way to the Library; he had a potion to research!

Later that day, after all the other classes, Harry was again on his way to the Library. He hadn't had much luck that morning, you could say he'd wasted his time, but he was motivated to go and continue searching.

Just before he was about to enter, he saw Hermione and Pansy walking out of it. Out of habit he walked up to Hermione and smiled in greeting, but she gave him a disgusted look and walked past him.

He turned around to stare confused after her and felt a small sadness clench his heart when he heard her say, loud enough for him to hear: "I don't believe it. Not even Lavender would sleep with a dork like Harry Potter," she glanced over her shoulder and sent Harry a gleefull sneer.

It was the ugliest expression Harry had ever seen on her face.

She snorted and turned back to Pansy. "You'd think the girl has at least SOME taste."

Pansy chortled. "She is a Gryffindor: you can't expect too much of them. They are almost as bad as Hufflepuffs."

They walked around the corner and Harry stared full sorrow after them. It was official: he hated this world. A world in which Hermione hated him, and Draco Malfoy was relatively kind was nothing short of Hell.

It angered him. Everything was so damn unfair! He was alone, nothing went his way, he couldn't prove that he wasn't a bloody idiot like his counterpart. He couldn't find anything about the stupid potion! He had no idea how he could begin finding his way home!

His breathing quickened again and a white-hot heat started to form in the pit of his stomach. He tried Morgane's excercise again, but to no avail, and seeing no other option; he broke into a mad sprint towards the only person who could help him.

Only moments later, he found himself on the seventh floor near Gryffindor Tower, facing Morgane and almost hyperventilating. The statue tried to calm him down and seemed upset to see him like this, but Harry was unable to concentrate on her.

Then out of nowhere, he suddenly felt something extremely hard and cold slam against his right cheek, and his face snapped to the side from the force of it. The heat immediately dissapeared from his body and left Harry standing slack-jawed in front of the statue with a hand cupping his abused cheek.

"Wah-?" he mumbled shocked.

Morgane slowly lowered her left hand, with which she had slapped Harry.

"My sincere apologies for that, dear Harry," she said. "But you really needed to calm down. Have I not explained to you how important it is that you keep control of your emotions?"

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to! You have to believe me!" Harry tried to defend himself, still rubbing his cheek to get rid of the pain, as her hand had hurt him badly.

"But my friends! They are so different! The things they say… about me are so much more painfull then that slap you just gave me! I can't help but feel this way! I don't know what to do anymore, all this confusion!"

"Harry…" Morgane whispered sadly, her face showed kind concern.

"Please forgive me my brutal words, but these things that you are happening to you now… these are all small matters. They mean nothing compared to what you shall have to face in the near future. If these happenings are able to make you react so harshly, then what do you think you will do-"

"Morgane," Harry suddenly couldn't look her in the eyes anymore and his hand left his cheek to start fumbling with his shirt's sleeve. "I don't-"

"Think about what happened when you first arrived here. Similar things could happen again if you do not learn to control yourself!"

"It's not gonna happen again!" Harry told her shortly and let go of his sleeve. He tried to look as convincing as he could, but Morgane shook her head unbelievingly.

"Harry-dear, you are not even able to speak to me about this matter. Do you even think about it sometimes?"

Harry took a few defensive steps away from her. "There is nothing to think about." He told her and turned around. "I'm okay now. I'm going-"

"Denial is not going to undo it, Harry. You have killed a person because you lost control of your elemental. You must learn to accept it and ensure it will not happen again in the future! And I beg you, please, talk about it with me! Not talking about it or trying to forget is not right."

Harry had halted when Morgane started her harsh speech, but now he turned back towards her again.

"First of all: I didn't kill a person!" He spat at her. "I defended myself against a Death Eater!"

"You do not know this for sure."

"Like hell I do! He sent an Avada Kedavra at me! That makes him a Death Eater in my book, no matter if he was my alternate self or not!"

"And you taking over this boy's life has nothing to do with your absolute denial?" Morgane asked, hitting the nail on the head.

"I-that's besides the point!"

"I think that is one of the things that trouble you. The thought that you might have killed an innocent person, plus on top of that, the fact that you are taking over his life. It must lie heavy on your conscience."

Harry shook his head and backed away again. "You're wrong. You must be wrong. I'm right. He was a Death Eater. I had to defend myself!"

Morgane reached out a hand to stop him. "Harry, wait-"

But Harry swiveled around and ran away from her, unable to be confronted with the truth that he had been avoiding so diligently.

He had killed this alternate worlds' Harry Potter... and was taking over his life.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	16. Wall of Denial

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**16. Wall of Denial**

_No matter what trouble we carry round inside,  
We're never safe from the truth, but in the truth we can survive,  
When this wall of denial comes tumblin' down  
Yeah, this wall of denial must tumble down  
Down to the ground._

* * *

**  
**So once again, Harry was storming through the hallways of Hogwarts. It seemed to be a reoccuring event. Though this time he was not mad with anger. He didn't feel the white-hot fire of rage burning in his veins; all he really wanted was to get away.

Away from everything and everyone in Hogwarts. Away from Morgane. Just everything. But where could he find this freedom he desired?

He halted in front of a window and glanced full desire at the Forbidden Forest. It would be the only place where no one would come looking for him. What a bliss it would be to dissapear in there.

But no, he couldn't do such a thing. So he aimed for the next best thing. Before he knew it, he was in the Hufflepuff Common Room and headed for Nathan and Jay, who were doing their homework.

Harry called out to Nathan. "Nathan, can I borrow something from you?"

"Huh? Like what?"

"Your broom, can I borrow it? I want to fly, but with a decent broom. Not with the slow school brooms."

Nathan snorted. "Well too bad, I'm not letting you on my broom when you've already crashed three school brooms. No offence man."

Before Harry could reply to that, Jay spoke up. "You can use mine."

That came quite unexpected for both Harry and Nathan. But Harry's expression soon went from utterly surprised to very gratefull. Nathan though stared at Jay looking slightly alarmed.

"Wha-", mouthed the blond Hufflepuff, but Jay ignored Nathan's disbelief and quickly retrieved the broom. Harry smiled and left with a well-meant thanks. Even though everybody in the Common Room was strangely looking at him, this was the best moment Harry had experienced untill now; Jay had a Firebolt!

Nathan continued to stare incredulously at Jay who raised a brow. "What?" he demanded to know as he pulled his homework closer to him and dipped a quill in the inkpot.

"I can't believe you let **Harry**, of all people, borrow your **expensive** Firebolt!" Nathan exclaimed, putting emphasis on 'Harry' and 'expensive'. "How can you possibly let him, while knowing his history with brooms!"

Jay grinned and shrugged casually. "I've just got this feeling about him. Harry, he has changed, in case you haven't noticed, oh-so-called-best-friend." He seemed more serious now. "There is more to Harry than we know. And I trust him; he'll be alright."

Nathan sighed. "It's not him I'm worried about, but your broom…"

"Nathan, my boy," laughed Jay. "You worry too much."

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry was almost skipping happily towards the Quidditch Field, though the skipping could more be considered slippig as there was a small layer of snow on the ground. He was in luck, since for a change there was no one there to bother him. And as Harry mounted his broom and took off into the sky, he immediately felt how the icy wind washed all his troubles away.

Just being in the cool air cleared his head of all the worries, feelings, impressions and troubles of the past few days. And for the first time in days, Harry felt free and at ease up in the sky with the wind pulling on his hair and clothes and his eyes nearly watering from cold and the speed he used as he flew almost vertically up into the sky.

There was not a thing in the world that could touch him up there. There was no need to think about what Morgane had said so cruelly, no important potion to brew, no freaky people acting all different from what Harry was used to. He could do whatever he wanted, which at this moment was dropping down from great height and making some daring loopings.

But Harry wasn't to remain in this blissful state of loneliness for long though, because what Harry didn't know was that a small dozen of eyes were firmly fixed on his flying form.

A few people in the castle had noticed his figure, twisting and turning in the air and making alarming dives to the ground. And since it was not every day that you could see someone do moves only professional Quidditch Players and suicidal maniacs did; some of them decided to take a closer look.

A small group mainly consisting of Gryffindor students and a few Ravenclaws, was walking towards the Pitch and Harry once again was climbing up high when he noticed the dark-robed group traveling towards him over the white ground. He halted up in the air and stared for a moment thoughtlessly at them, noticing how a few held their hands above their eyes as if they couldn't see him well and were trying to figure out who he was.

After a short hesitation, he flew down and went in-between some tribunes the most far away from the spot where the group would be entering the Pitch soon. He felt in no need to meet up with them now, since he had finally calmed down. Also knowing the kind of bias there was against his persona in this world, he didn't want to risk the chance of being riled up again.

He landed in one smooth move and stalked the last few steps through an archway between two tribunes. Unfortunately, there had been more people, beside the small group, who had noticed him flying and one individual was now obstructing Harry's way.

Harry stared blinking to none other then Neville Longbottom, the famous Boy-Who-Lived of this world. The proud Gryffindor had been standing leaned, with his arms crossed over his chest, against the wall and was now staring dissecting at Harry.

"So it was you," he stated coolly, not even making it sound like a question.

Harry just continued staring blankly at him for a moment before realizing the kind of position he was in. Namely: someone, who had shown great dislike towards his person, now knew information about him he didn't want to share. Flying was his thing, his escape: Harry didn't want to share his secret obsession with the alien people of this world!

"Please don't tell anyone," he quickly pleaded and Neville frowned confused, not understanding why Harry would want to keep his admirable flying skills a secret.

"Why?"

Harry nervously racked a hand through his hair as his other hand tightened around the Firebolt's handle. "Because I came here to fly, not to answer any questions," he said promptly.

Neville shook slowly, and not understanding, his head. "I can't see why you wouldn't want people to know that you can actually fly!" he exclaimed a bit loudly. "-but I won't tell anyone. You'll owe me though."

Harry gave a sigh. "Yeah sure."

He was about to walk past the other boy, when Neville stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. Apparently he wanted to settle things right now. Neville took his hand back and shove it uncomfortably into his pants pocket.

"I just want to know what's going on with you! You're not acting like yourself at all! What the heck is up with you? What happened to you!"

Harry had expected someone to notice his changed behaviour, but never did he dare to believe it to be Neville of all people. "I'm acting differently? I don't know what you mean," he said testing.

The hand came out of the pocket again and was this time clenched into a fist, the other joined it and Neville stepped away from the wall.

"You know exactly what I mean." He said and then proved how sharp he actually was, compared to shy little Neville from Harry's world, by presenting a list of Harry's 'wrongdoings'.

"You show up one morning in Gryffindor robes and actually was going to sit at the Gryffindor table, don't think I didn't notice! You actually found the nerve to answer questions in classes, while you never used to know any answers, and you even answered them correctly!"

Neville took a quick breath and continued. "And I heard someone say that you actually threatened Terry Boot at breakfast yesterday! Did you really say you would bomb him with jam if he dared to say one more word? Is that true?" asked Neville suddenly.

Harry snorted. It was quite amusing to hear how his small action had grown to a bold rumour in only one day. "Well, I guess," he answered as he shrugged.

"See!" Neville exclaimed, pointing his finger at Harry's chest. "That's something you would never ever have dared to do! Until now!"

Harry shrugged again and titled his head slightly to one side. "And?"

"Why are you pretending not to be afraid of anything? You used to be such a wimp! Now you're acting as if you wouldn't even care if You-Know-Who came up to you and asked you to lend your wand to him!"

Harry couldn't help but snort at that thought, specially when knowing the curiosity of his wand and that of Voldemort's, but Neville took it as if Harry was laughing at the feared wizard himself and couldn't help jumping over onto his favourite subject: how he 'defeated' You-Know-Who.

"Don't think so lightly of him! I've faced him. He's thrice as bad as people say! The last time I encountered him, I barely escaped alive! It is a great weight and honour that lies on my shoulders, you know. To know that I am the only one who is able to defeat him!"

Harry was now the one to stare incredulous at the other. Not only didn't he know how they had come from the subject of his flying skills onto the subject of how to defeat Voldemort, but he was also quite taken back by the sudden arrogance the other boy was now showing.

He raised a brow. "Are you going to try to kill Voldemort with your arrogance or something, 'Oh Glorious One'?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Who do you-" Neville faltered. "You-you said his name!"

"Oh sorry, I keep forgetting it disturbs people. But seriously: if you're going to walk up to Moldy Voldy and start sprouting nonsense about how you're the only one who is able to defeat him, he will laugh in your face and swat you away like a Beazle," said Harry, not mentioning that the great wizard also didn't like to be called names, as he had found out from experience.

"Are you doubting the fact that I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?" Neville said offended. "Next thing you're going to say is that he's only desperate for a hug and can only be defeated with love or something silly like that!"

Neville paused, as Harry laughed internally about the given image, and now Harry's words truly registered in Neville's mind. "Wait, Moldy Voldy?" He stared baffled at Harry, having totally given up the image he had of the lazy loser from before.

Harry had changed so much. He was no longer the same guy that had attended Hogwarts with him the last few years. He dared to disagree with him, Neville Longbottom! He dared to have a discussion about You-Know-Who of all people! He was nothing like the Harry he knew; he was mad bonkers!

Harry meanwhile enjoyed seeing the odd faces Neville pulled during their conversation, specially the slack-jaw that reminded him of his world's Neville. A small smile appeared on his lips and that broke Neville's thoughts.

"Well, I'll be heading back now, seeing you've got more important things on your mind. See ya!" Harry said, and left the Gryffindor in utter confusion and disbelief.

Harry burst into his dormitory to find Nathan and Jay getting ready for bed. He immediately walked up at his brown-haired classmate, trusted the broom in his hands and smiled. "Thank you, man! I really needed that."

Jay laughed. "You're so welcome, man!" He turned to Nathan and jokingly pretended to check his broom for any possible damage, making sure that Nathan saw how he was even checking each individual twig. Nathan slapped his leg, knowing he was being mocked, but laughed along with the other boy.

He was proven wrong, so the only good reaction was to accept it like a man.

Harry was a bit confused about why the two were laughing, though he felt it was not about him and decided to head up, when a random thought crossed his mind. He turned back to the two.

"Hey, just out of curiosity: Jay, are you in our House team?"

Nathan rolled his eyes quasi-insulted. "I can't believe you would forget something as important as who is in the Quidditch team!" he exclaimed, while Jay just stared at him in an odd way.

"I am a Chaser," he answered and made the peace sign.

Harry nodded. He figured as much with such a great broom. Also the way Jay had moved when crossing the sleeping quarters the other day, showed he was agile and swift. It made him remember yet another thing.

"You're quite acrobatic, aren't you?

"Have I never told you? My uncle is an Auror. He taught me all that."

"Could you teach it to me?"

"You want me to teach you?" asked Jay honestly surprised.

"That's what I said."

"Sure, but only if you're really dedicated to it. I'm not going to waste my time if you skive off."

Harry smiled. "Oh trust me. I'll be dedicated."

Jay stood up from his bed and walked towards Harry. "We'll see about that," he grinned and the boys shook hands.

"Alright, first lesson will start tomorrow evening sev- No wait, I got a date then," Jay said and rubbed his chin. "Okay, the day after tomorrow. Seven in the evening, our dorms."

Nathan looked up. "You got another date?"

"Hmm, just promised to play Twister with three firsties." He winked and left for the bathroom with a grin.

Nathan glanced to Harry and then back to where Jay had just closed the bathroomdoor. "Insane that one…" he muttered and then stared at Harry again, remembering Jay's words about Harry being different. "And so are you!" He said and grinned when he saw a quasi-insulted look on Harry's face.

"Am not!"

"You're raving bonkers! Admit it!" Nathan laughed and Harry couldn't keep himself from laughing too.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	17. Dead to the World

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**17. Dead to the World**

_In the dead of the night you seem closer to me  
The next day I wake up and know how unreal it is  
Feeling so tense like I'm caught in a corner  
You can't speak but I can hear you calling;  
'I come back for you… '_

* * *

Though Harry had wanted to use his evening to talk with Morgane and apologize for his erratic behaviour, instead it had been spent playing Exploding Snap with Nathan and helping a few first years with their homework.

One of the first year students had desperately asked a passing by prefect if she could help them with their homework, but the prefect claimed to be too busy and pointed them towards another student. It was when one of the firsties exclaimed loudly how he now didn't understand anything anymore, that Harry left the game for what it was and approached them.

"Perhaps I can help you. What's confusing you?" he asked, curious about what they were working on. The four students blinked as they all glanced up at him and Harry briefly thought about how small they were. Had he even been this little?

"It's this Transfiguration paper we have to finish by tomorrow," muttered a blond pig-tailed girl. Harry quickly glanced at what they were working on and pulled up a stool besides them. He tried to explain it the same way Hermione usually taught things to him and Ron and it turned out this worked just fine for the firsties.

That evening; Harry found out that he really enjoyed teaching others.

The night, however, was not as enjoyable for him as his evening had been, for his dreams were filled with memories, imaginations and visions all melted together into one big nightmare. The dream started out innocently enough, with him flying on his Firebolt, given to him by his beloved godfather.

But then, before he knew it, the broom had disappeared and he was tumbling down to the ground. He flailed with his arms and tried to find his wand but it was nowhere to be found and finally he hit the ground and was sucked up in it as if it were water.

He then found himself sitting on spongy, murky-green moss and his left arm hurt. Perhaps he had broken it again. As he glanced around he realized he was in a place he knew very well; he had been here a numerous amount of times.

It was dark and cold with only a soft glow from all around him lightening up the place. The leaves of the trees were wet with condense and Harry could see a foot high of mist all over the forest floor. He tried to take a step, but his left foot seemed to be stuck to the ground.

As he knelt down to see what holding his foot down and tried to dig the earth around away, he saw a small flash shoot past his eyes. He looked startled up to see he was surrounded by thousands of tiny lights, like fireflies whirling in dancing patterns around him.

He quickly stood up again, nearly losing his balance when his foot suddenly came loose from the ground. And as he turned around, his eyes followed the lights that were floating to none other than Albus Dumbledore. They twirled around the old man, some even flew through his beard and moat ended up being absorbed by the old Headmaster's wand.

Albus smiled kindly at him like a grandfather would, or so Harry imagined, and reached out a hand to him. Harry was just about to reach out when he noticed the hand was shrivelled up and skeletal, and when he looked up again, he saw Albus now had a grave expression on his face.

Then a large shadow fall over the both of them. A fierce hissing sound pierced through the erupted silence and commanded Harry to look up. His gaze slowly moved upwards and then he stared nearly frozen into the yellow eyes of the large Basilisk that had been residing in the Chamber of Secrets.

The scene immediately changed, the Forest disappeared and Harry didn't have to look around to know he was now standing in said Chamber. Albus slowly turned into who else but Voldemort who smirked cruelly, his face twisting into a macabre-looking grin.

Voldemort slithered closer to him and Harry tried in vain to raise his wand-tried to step away; but he couldn't move. Not a breath left his lips as the Dark Lord now stood too close for comfort.

He smirked again, his face only inches away from Harry's and the boy could see Voldemort's forked tongue as he licked his lips. The tip of the tongue briefly skimmed over his cheek, making Harry shiver at the eerie touch.

"You'll never get rid of me Harry," said the creature that Harry hated from the core of his being, the red glowing eyes almost looked tenderly and fond. "No matter where you'll go, I will find you…"

"NO!!!" Harry shouted violently, finally able to do something.

He sat upright in his bed, his chest heaving frantically as slowly his nightmare started to unravel. Then he noticed the whispering voices outside his bed. Harry dived for his wand, ready to attack when needed and then the bed-curtains were pulled open.

"Harry? You alright?"

His arm halted in mid-air as he noticed it was Nathan who had said his name, not Voldemort. Nathan was immediately pulled back by a strong-looking arm, and Harry saw someone jump onto his bed, forcing Harry's wand-arm down.

"Easy with that, mate," Jay said calmly and after a moment he loosened his grip on the arm when he felt Harry's muscles relax.

Nathan, who had quite brusquely been pushed aside, stood up from the floor. "Are you alright!?" he asked, seeming just as frightened as Harry. He came to sit on Harry's bedside.

Harry blinked frantically, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to um-try to attack you, Nathan."

"Yeah well, we got Super Jay here, who first sends me flying through the room and then disarms you without magic. How cool is that? You can attack me anytime, man," the blonde laughed, though it sounded a bit forced.

"You had a nightmare then?" Jay asked and titled his head slightly to the side like a curious cat would.

"Yeah," Harry frowned. _And a nasty one too. Though at least I know it was not happening for real, like when I used to see through Voldemort's eyes._

A small shudder ran through his body and Jay frowned as he felt it. He finally let go of Harry's arm and slipped off the bed. "Well, do you want to talk about it?"

Harry shook his head. How could he tell them that Voldemort frequently visited his dreams. "Not really."

Jay shrugged, accepting his answer without a word and already was walking back to his own bed. "Let's go back to sleep then. We still got 2 hours and 36 minutes until sunrise."

Nathan went back to his bed as well, still rubbing his sore behind. "Hey Jay, next time you do that Auror-trick, would you mind pushing me a bit more gently? Or perhaps aim for my bed?"

Harry watched how Jay grinned lazily to the blond. "You make sure you fall more gracefully and it won't hurt as bad as it does now."

"And why do you always have a comeback! It's bloody annoying!"

"Go to sleep, Nathan, or I'll Auror-trick you again!"

Nathan rolled his eyes, but did as told, though he couldn't keep himself from muttering jelously about how their other roommates were still sleeping soundly.

Harry smiled to himself before he drifted off back to sleep and thought that these guys were quite different from his Ron and Hermione, but in no way less charming.

The following day Harry found himself listlessly nibbling on some toast as lately he didn't feel very hungry in the morning. He let his eyes glide through the hall and caught Neville at the Gryffindor table, staring suspiciously at him. Harry gave the other a vague smile and after a short thought, a cheesy wink.

Neville physically froze and his gaze turned perplexed and then confused. Harry laughed behind his toast. The prat probably was all confused about him. Ron, who had been sitting in front of Neville, turned around to see what had startled Neville so, but by then; Harry already had turned his attention to someone else.

Wicket seemed a bit depressed-he supposed he could understand why-and her friends were all trying to cheer her up. He briefly glanced at Luna Lovegood, who had been his friend in his Universe, but she didn't look much different. Still the same radishes-earrings.

At the Slytherin table, he noticed how Hermione was arguing with Malfoy. They seemed to be close though and Harry wondered how it came to be that a biased pureblood like Malfoy could befriend Hermione, with her Muggle parentage.

He shook his head slightly to get rid of those thoughts and finished his toast. He then stood up and left for the dormitories to get his school supplies.

Transfiguration went by without a complication. Harry was not called upon for an answer, which he was glad for, since his attention was more on other things than the actual lessons. One of them was why McGonagall was not teaching this class. He'd seen her a few times in the hallway but hadn't really paid attention to the teachers table, so he couldn't remember if he'd seen her sitting next to Dumbledore or not.

Dumbledore was also someone he hadn't really paid attention to. At first it was because he was still mad at the man and then he'd been too confused about realizing he was in another reality than his own to pay attention to the man who frequently helped ruining his life. It was still a mindboggling thought to Harry to think he was actually in another reality. A world unlike all he'd known.

How had it really happened? Had his and Snape's fight caused this event to happen? Or something from Dumbledore's office? Or perhaps Snape had sent him back on purpose; Harry wouldn't put it past the greasy git to actually be on Voldemort's side and concoct this plan to get rid of him.

Jay was kind enough to alert him that class had ended and he followed him absentmindedly to their next class. Because of his absentmindedness, he didn't noticed how Nathan glanced slightly jealous from him to Jay.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was child's play, but afterwards Professor Rosier asked if Harry could stay behind. He assured that he'd give Harry a hall pass, but Harry said he'd be fine without. The Head of Hufflepuff wouldn't hear from him that he'd been banned from attending Potions classes anytime soon or that he now had the next two hours free of classes.

He could not tell that to the man; not after the promise he'd made. He would be 'houseless' as the man had said. What did it mean anyway? He wouldn't be in any of the 4 houses? If he lost points, would no-

"Harry? May I have your attention please?"

Harry snapped back to reality and quickly came with an excuse off the top of his head. "Sorry sir, I was just thinking about the charm you mentioned. Could it perhaps help someone who has difficulties with casting, for example a Patronus Charm?" When he thought about what he'd just said, he realized it actually was a good question. He grinned inwardly.

Professor Rosier frowned slightly and then leaned back against his desk. His eyes studied Harry briefly, looking for cheek, but then he decided to answer as he would to any other student.

"I don't think it would, Harry. As I explained, it is considered as dark charm. Though you may not believe that a charm that causes a person to feel happy can be dark; it can totally destroy a person's mind and emotions. Especially since with just the slightest difference in the power used it, becomes unstable and unpredictable."

He paused for a moment. "But I see where you're getting the idea from. It has been tried with cheering charms, but the person who had to cast the Patronus was never able to concentrate, nor were the 'happy' thoughts strong enough to cast a Patronus."

"But it takes several minutes before the charm is in full effect. If you use the Patronus charm just after it was cast on you, then perhaps you're able to disable it in the process?"

_Merlin, I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about! Who would buy all this crap?_

"This is all hypothetically speaking, but if you consider it logically, I would say yes." Rosier glanced at Harry's face, and then smiled. "Perhaps it is worth the research. I could give you extra credit for it, would you like that?"

_Okay… he bought it. So it sounds logical? Hmm, he's got a point and extra credit is good, I guess. It could boost up my bad reputation with him, whether I find positive results on the subject or not._

"Yes sir."

"Okay; impress me with what you find and turn it in over, let's say a month. That would give you enough time."

"Yes sir. How long do you want it to be."

"I'll leave that up to you. Like I said: impress me and I might reconsider everything I've thought about your work attitude." Rosier answered with a small smile. He then ushered Harry out of the classroom and Harry was already several steps towards the library when he realized he still didn't know why the man had asked him to stay behind.

In the Library he now had to divide his time between his project for DADA as well as Potions. But he didn't mind it every much. It was nice to have a load of things to do, it kept his mind busy from becoming depressed or thinking about how he really missed his two closest friends. It felt almost as bad as the summer vacations and it had only been a few days!

Something odd happened though in the Library. He thought he could ask the Librarian, who was not the well known Pince, but an older man with a small, grey beard who went by the name Maurice, about where he could find certain books.

The librarian smiled kindly at him, seeming like a nice uncle of some sort as he walked with him to a certain isle. It seemed like the man was one of the few who actually liked him. "Have you made friends with that boy, Draco Malfoy?" he randomly questioned.

"Huh? No, not that I know of. Why do you ask, sir?"

"I heard the boy give a fierce tongue lashing to his close friend, Miss Granger. Something about her saying something rude about you/ You really should try to stand up for yourself, Harry."

"Um yeah, I'm working on it." Harry answered, confused about why Malfoy would've come to his defence. And what could she have said about him that would make the blond feel offended?

"But it is nice to see you actually using my Library for information, instead of a place for a quick nap." Maurice continued.

Later during Muggle studies, the students learned more about how Muggles used electricity as a powersource and they were asked to work on their paper. Since Harry already had written most of it during his study session with Nathan in the kitchens, he was able to insert a few things the professor had told. He gave his essay the impressive title: 'The Muggle Law of Conservation of Energy.'

Before he knew it, dinner had arrived and Harry quickly ate a bit before heading to Morgane. He hoped she wouldn't be angry at him and still willing to teach him about his elemental. But because he was gone from the Dining Hall so fast, he was not aware of the fact that Hogwarts' rumor-mill was buzzing with the news of a mysterious yet talented Quidditch-player, who had been flying the day before.

Who had it been? From which house? Was he (or she) already in a House team?

Only two people in the room knew who it in fact had been; one of them was the celebrated hero of Gryffindor (and the Wizarding World), the other preferred to stay quiet about it for now and see how it all would play out.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	18. Keep the Candle Burning

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**18. Keep the Candle Burning**

_All it takes is one steady heart  
In a world that is turning  
Shine a light and pierce the dark  
Keep the candle burning_

* * *

"_Hello Harry," _the painting of an old man-that vaguely reminded Harry of Albert Einstein-in front of him suddenly said, effectively startling the dawdling youth and making him jump in fright.

"_Morgane says that you shouldn't hide behind that wall and come out to talk with her."_

Harry cringed from his spot just around the corner of the corridor that led to Morgane's statue. He'd forgotten that the paintings of Hogwarts often served as spies. Usually to inform the professors if certain people were snogging late at night at spots they really shouldn't be at, but apparently they also spied for each other.

He took a deep, steadying breath and stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against. It was time for him to face Morgane, apologise and have that long delayed conversation with her. He didn't look forward to the talk though, especially the subject.

Another deep breath and he stalked around the corner. Perhaps his steps were a bit uneven and his posture slightly stiff, but Morgane and the paintings didn't comment on it. The paintings actually all immediately left their portraits, perhaps to give them some sort of privacy, and finally Harry stood in front of her.

For an extremely long moment, they both were silent and only looked at each other. Morgane then showed him a small smile and folded her hands pointedly in front of her stomach. Was it to show that she wouldn't strike out at him again? Granted, Harry's jaw had hurt from the blow, but he didn't resent her for it. He actually felt she had been in her right to have done so, since he had been slightly hysterical at the time.

"I'm sorry!" He quickly blurted out at the same time as Morgane bowed her head and said: "My deepest apologies, Harry."

It was silent again, though this time only for a few seconds as they both stared startled at each other, but then a grin appeared on both of their faces. "What are you sorry for?" Harry asked as the sweltering tension in his veins seemed to flow out of his body.

"I should not have pushed you, Harry. You were not ready yet to talk about it; I should have respected your wishes."

"No, you were right, Morgane. I was trying so hard not to think about it, to not awknoledge it. But it isn't really helping me so far. Guess I'll have to face my actions one day." He shrugged. "So why not now."

"And did you think about it?"

Harry's eyes shot nervously to the side, not able to look the beautiful statue in the eye, and he rubbed nervously the skin in his neck as he felt the hairs there starting to rise. He dropped the hand again.

"I-kinda did… it's-hard to accept that I might have killed an innocent person. I still think he was a Death Eater though, I mean… he used the Killing Curse! But then I start wondering... what if it had just been this world's Harry who thought that I was the Death Eater instead! I mean, we looked like each others mirror image! I'm sure that-"

"Harry. You are rambling again."

"-fact stays: he's dead. Let's just face it; I'm a true murderer now. I know at the forest, I-"

"Harry Potter! Do you want me to hit you again?!"

Harry's mouth shut closed at those words, cutting of his mindless ramble. "Um… no?" He then said warily.

"Then listen to me and listen carefully; you could have handled that situation smarter. Even IF he had been a Death Eater, you could have disabled him without blowing up. This is why you have to train your elemental power. You cannot justify killing someone, but in this case you shall have to learn to live with it and make sure that it will not happen again."

Harry sighed and leaned back against the wall. Somehow it felt better to have the cold stone against his back. It kept him grounded and the support of the wall against his back felt almost comforting, perhaps because ik could prevent people from sneaking up behind him.

"What upsets me more than anything is how easy it was to kill him. Just a flick of my wand, I didn't even had to think about it. Just as soon as I heard him casting the Death curse, I somehow figured it was okay if I did the same. And only later did I take it into concideration that he might not have been a Death Eater."

He glanced at Morgane, trying to gauge her feelings about this.

"If I'm like that in a battle... could it be considered as doing the right thing? I mean, I must kill Voldemort and fight his Death Eaters… but they got families and I know that some don't even want to be Death Eaters, some are forced … I just don't know it anymore… What if I'm becoming like _Him._..?"

Morgane tilted her head to the side and her hands left their place in front of her to hang next to her side.

"You have started to accept your responsibility, and it is good that you are starting to concider your actions. But you shall not become the next Dark Lord, dear. You are not him; the fact that you worry about it shows that much. Accept that you have to use certain means to reach your goal, but make sure it does not corrupt your soul."

Harry frowned. Morgane's words sounded deep and logical, but still he didn't understand all of it.

She continued. "But now it is time start to accept other things."

"What do you mean?"

"You have been here for a few days already, Harry. You had the time to find out and accept that you are in fact in a different world than the one you used to know. Now, when did you do research on this world's history for example?"

"Uh-"

"Right. That is what I mean. Even while you are here and do indeed understand you are here… somehow you still treat it like you are having a dream. As if you are in an Pensieve and just watching the memories play out in front of you, but not becoming part of it. It is however very real: you are here and the chance that you will be stuck here for a long while is quite large. Accept this and adapt to the situation."

Harry was silent. Yes, he had indeed seen his stay here as a vacation. A way to escape the expectations of his own world, but it seemed there was no escape from reality.

"Learn about the world you are in, Harry, only then you will be able to find out what is your purpose here. Now, I think we have spoken enough. We shall commerce with your training instead."

Harry, eager to get away from the depressing subject, and a bit unhinged about the talk he just got, was very eager to.

Morgane reached inside the basket near her feet and then held up a small candle. She smiled at Harry. "Mister Filch was kind enough to give it to me," she said. "He was such a cute guy in his younger years." she trailed off.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Why? Give it to you of course! This is for your first elemental lessons." She leaned down and handed it over to him. She then stared expectantly at him.

"What?" Harry asked, not knowing what she expected from him and glanced down at the candle. It seemed normal enough.

She smiled enigmatic. "_Use your imagination."_

Harry raised a brow and stared at the candle. Well, since his elemental was fire; he could try to lit the candle. He focussed on the candle and tried to get that familiar heat to go through his body and lit the candle with it. But no matter how much he tried to focus, the heat wouldn't come and finally after many tries, Harry got frustrated with it.

"It doesn't work!" He complained, but Morgane merely smiled and told him to keep trying.

Still after many more tries, all that had happened was that the candle had bended slightly, and Harry had the suspicion that it hadn't even happened because of his elemental. In a fit of frustration, he threw the candle against the wall.

"This is bloody useless! Can't you give me better instructions?" Harry glared at Morgane. He had the suspicion that she might just be a bad teacher.

But Morgane glanced at the broken candle on the ground. "What purpose did that serve, Harry?" She questioned him. "Now you have broken it."

Harry waved his wand at it. "And now it's whole again."

"Yes... but some things cannot be made whole again after they are broken. This is something you must remember Harry. Do you understand why I gave you this excersise?"

Harry had calmed down again after listening to her soft voice. "No...?"

"You are aware of what kind of elemental you are, right Harry?"

"Yeah, fire. I've set this whole hallway on fire; so that was kind of a big clue."

"But what if you hadn't? What if you had not used your powers yet, would you be able to tell what elemental you are?"

"Huh? I dunno. I don't understand what you're meaning to say. I guess I wouldn't have known."

"Wrong. Your elemental is connected to your personality. As mine is water, my character has often been described as 

peacefull and serene like water. _Water_ personalities, like me, tend to be kind, nurturing, sympathetic, empathetic and intuitive. However, we can also be needy, sentimental, over-sensitive and irrational from time to time."

She grinned. "Oh, how Merlin loved to bring those sides to the surface. He said it was irreplacable entertainment to make me lose my cool."

"I see..."

"And lets just take a look at your personality. It shifts a lot right? Never really staying one way or the other? Sometimes you are brave and selfless, other times defensive, hot-tempered or something else entirely."

"... that's true, I guess."

"Have you ever stared into the flame of a candle? You are just like that flame Harry. It never moves as you'd expect it to. It turns sideways, twists, spins, grows larger, then small again, then dances. Try to find out about your character and thus your strong and weak points is part of your elemental training. Call it your homework. Beside your anger management excersises, which I'm sure you practise right before you go to bed."

Harry blushed as she raised an inquiring brow. He quickly glanced at the candle on the floor. "What about the candle?"

"Keep it with you, it will serve as a reminder. Now you should go to bed, you have been with me for a long while"

Harry bade her farewell and went back to the dormitories where he dressed for bed and finally did the breathing excersize she had taught him to calm down. Hopefully it could soon become something he would do unconsiously when he was feeling angry again.

He was a bit early, compared to his dormmates, but he felt rather exhausted. Before he went to bed, he stared for a moment at the candle as he thought about how much time he had wasted on trying to get it to burn. He placed it annoyed on his nightstand, turned his back onto slighhtly smoking thing and was soon deep asleep.

Later that evening, when Nathan came in to go to bed, he would blow out the candle that was burning brightly next to Harry's bed and wonder why Harry, who had been afraid of fire ever since he had singed his eyebrows off as a first year during Potions, would have a burning candle next to his bed.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	19. Put your Lights on

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

_**  
**_**19. Put your Lights on**

'_Cause there's a monster living under my bed  
Whispering in my ear  
There's an angel with a hand on my head  
She say I got nothing to fear_

* * *

Harry had a fitful night again. Perhaps it was caused by his talk with Morgane; as it now had gotten an approachable subject, his mind didn't mind mulling over it, resulting in yet another nightmare.

He was standing outside on the grass of the Quidditch field and stared speechless down at his splitting image. He noticed the grass around the other was a dark red, which was ridiculous since the killing curse didn't make one bleed. But when he glanced down at his right hand, he saw that instead of his wand he was holding a large, bloody kitchen knife. It looked exactly like the ones Aunt Petunia had back at Pivet Drive and it even had the leaf-shaped logo on its hilt.

He glanced back at the look-a-like laying quivvering at his feet, the familiar green eyes staring watering up at him and it suddenly felt as if an icy-cold hand gripped his heart and started to squeeze. He couldn't take his eyes away from the other though.

"Why did you kill me?" The boy gasped and a trail of blood left his mouth as he clutched his hurt stomach from where a river of blood was flowing. Harry wished he could explain and tried desperately to find the right words to justify his actions... but he was not able to. How could he explain he had thought the other to be a Death Eater?

"You would have killed me if I hadn't," he finally said and glanced at the knife he still held in his hand. The sharp blade was dripping ruby-red and seemed like a fierce weapon. Harry wondered what had happened to his wand.

The boy laughed brokenly as the pool of blood around him started to expand. Harry took unvoluantary a step back to avoid touching it.

"How could I? With what?" The boy asked and it was only then that Harry realized it was just a child. A child with large, green eyes and a quivering lip as if it was trying to keep from crying.

"You were holding a wand!" Harry exclaimed and glanced at the boy's hand, only to find it holding a red candle. He shook his head in denial.

"No, I was right! You had a wand! Where is it! Where did you hide it?!" He yelled frantically, not noticing how the knife fell from his fingers and imbedded itself into the ground beside his feet.

"I was going to give it to you... to help you with your training," the boy smiled heartbrokenly and started to sit up. The blood around him immidiately dissapeared and instead of on the Quidditch Pitch, they were now in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. All around them shadows moved in intricate dances and Harry knew that any moment now he could be under attack.

"NO! Stop it! They are lies! You're LYING!!!" He screamed and pointed his wand at the guy who now looked remarkably like a young Tom Riddle. He was about to yell a curse when he woke up in cold sweat, his right arm streched out in front of him.

Harry was panting and as he tried to catch his breath, he lowered his arm and got his bearings again. Nightmares; he had them almost non stop ever since Sirius died. It was either a dreamless sleep or a nightmare. Harry actually couldn't remember the last time he had a pleasant dream.

But this nightmare had been so different from those he usually had about Voldemort. It was more like the one where he kept watching Sirius fall through the veil, with him unable to grab his hand. Or the one where Cedric grabbed the trophy, just before Harry had the chance to warn him of what lied beyond it.

Harry shrugged his damp blankets off and glanced at his alarm clock; it was six in the morning. He rolled his shoulders to get rid of the tension in his muscles and stood up. Since he didn't really feel like going back to sleep for only one more hour, he went to the bathroom for a quick, refreshing shower.

Imagine his surprise when he noticed that Nathan was already there.

"Nathan? Why are you awake at this hour?"

The half-clothed Nathan gribbed his toothbrush firmly in his hand. He seemed agitated. "Same reason as you: I couldn't sleep because of nightmares." He send a glowering look at Harry. "YOUR nightmares, to be precise. I don't understand how the others can sleep though it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry?"

"Don't be. At first I was angry, thinking you were jacking off and forgot to put up a silencing charm, but you made me feel guilty when I realized it was a nightmare."

Nathan didn't look at Harry as he squirted some toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "I couldn't wake you up. You were just shivering as if you were cold, and your face... you were sweating so much and it was as if you were in agonizing pain. I couldn't bear to see or hear it, so I went here."

Harry placed comforting a hand on Nathan's shoulder, who froze in his action. "I'm really sorry Nathan. Next time I'll remember to put up a silencing-"

Nathan whirled around to stare angrily with his pale blue eyes into Harry's emerald ones. "That's not the problem here!"

"Then what is?!" Harry questioned loudly, growing tired of the other's behaviour, which reminded him of Ron when he was being difficult again.

"You! There is something going on with you, yet you don't tell me! I don't know what is wrong with you!" Nathan burst out. He waved with his toothbrush as if it were a wand and the toothpaste flew off and onto the tiled wall.

"I don't know how to act around you anymore! You're being cold to me-Me; your best friend! You are being secretive! You act different! You talk different! It's like I don't know you anymore!"

He motioned with his toothbrush to his chest. "And I can't stand the fact that Jay, of all people, seems to understand you better than I do! Jay never was your friend! He was mine and he told me that he only hung out with you because you were my friend! Yet lately, it is as if he is your best friend, and not me!"

He was breathing heavily now and Harry stared shocked at the other boy. This situation reminded him of how Wicket had reacted to their 'break-up'. But also about his little conversation with Neville the other day.

"Nathan," he said, before the blond could continue. "I-"

Well, what could he say to that? He was in fact another person than the one Nathan had know.

"I'm sorry." he finally said again, by lack of something better to say.

Nathan glowered at him and threw his un-used toothbrush carelessly into the sink. "Forget it!" He spat and stormed past Harry and out of the bathroom. Harry remained in the bathroom, staring at the door and not knowing what he could or should do.

He sighed deeply and then just went to a stall for his shower. His body was still clammy with sweat and he figured he should let the other calm down right now before trying to talk with him. It also gave him some time to figure out what he could say.

During breakfast, Nathan still sat next to him, but didn't say a word. He seemed caught up in thoughts, though Harry could feel him glance at him once in a while. Jay was not sitting with them, as he was in the middle of a group seventh years and apparently having a good time as there was a blonde girl sitting on his lap.

Harry sighed and tried to at least eat something. Throughout the day he tried to pay attention in classes and he did dutifully some of his homework. He tried to come up with a plan to find out about the world around him the quickest way. How he could find out about Snape's potion since he was kind of stuck on it now. Wondered about his elemental powers, but these thoughts were brief and he could not focus on any of it.

Before he knew it, it was time for dinner and Nathan was still ignoring him. Harry had no idea how to 'make up' with him so he did the same. Jay was this time sitting next to the blonde Ravenclaw and the other people at the table just left Harry and Nathan alone.

Around seven, he and Jay both met up in the dorms. They sat on Jay's bed as he told a basic outline of what his Auror uncle had taught him. And though Harry got a bit tired of only listening and not doing anything, he tried to pay attention.

"-are you listening?" Jay asked as he raised a brow. Harry gave a quick nod. So far he'd heard something about this part of Auror training coming from Japan some hundred years ago and was adopted to help Aurors from not being defenceless without their wands. It combined stealth with agility and it's only a physical part of the auror training and abtly called: the Art of body movement. It also focussed on defense in any environment and situation and the use of everyday items as effective weapons, instead of a wand.

Jay had asked his uncle to teach him more moves after his uncle had taught him something that helped him with his Chaser moves. And if Harry really wanted to learn, he would have to practise them vigilantly. Harry nodded in agreement; he'd figured as much.

Jay made a strange motion with his hand. "So you see, it is more like a combination of dance and fighting techniques. It's fluent, quick and your opponent can't catch you."

Harry raised dumbstruck a brow. "A fighting-style based on dancing?"

"It sounds dumb, I know. But come on; you're GOOD at dancing!" He shrugged again and grinned. "At least, I heard that's why Wicket was with you. Though not a lot of people have seen you dance..." He tapped his chin in thought. "Can you show me some moves?"

Harry shook frantically his head. _I'm horrible at dancing! Oh Merlin, what now?_

"Why not?"

"I-uh, can't dance. Not anymore I mean. I uh, forgot. Yeah."

"That's strange. How could you forget that? Hm, you've forgotten quite a lot of things lately. Don't think I don't notice you look quite lost whenever Nathan tells an anecdote about something you two did together." He raised a brow. "Have you hit your head or something?"

"I don't think so," Harry said, but immediately wondered if he should've agreed. It gave him a legitimate reason for not remembering certain memories.

Jay didn't buy that answer and led him to the chair. His put his hands on Harry's shoulders and pushed him down on it. "Let me check." He ordered and moved to stand behind him. The Hufflepuff Chaser let his hands run through Harry's hair to apparently check for bumps.

"I guess you're okay, though a bump could have disappeared already," he finally said as his hands stopped ruffling Harry's already wild hair.

Harry shook his head to get rid of the eerie feeling. It hadn't been unpleasant, but shivers had travelled over his spine and he didn't know what to think of that. "I told you! Did you have to check like that?"

Jay leaned over his shoulder and then suddenly blew hot air into his ear. "Nah, I just wanted to touch you!" he said and jumped laughing away as Harry stood up from the chair and turned to face him.

"Now; attack me!"

Harry pounced and they had a brief hand-to-hand battle in which Harry was utterly defeated by Jay's quick and smooth moves. After that, they tried to catch their breath and Jay tried to explain his moves and told Harry how he could do those and how to practise them without Jay.

"-beds are perfect to practise that roll."

"Yeah, I have seen you do that once."

"Really? Hmm, can't remember."

"And you're worried about ME forgetting things." Harry mumbled.

Jay shrugged and then seemed thoughtful. "Your mum probably taught you, right? Your dancing? She will be sad to find out you forgot how to."

Harry froze in shock as Jay's words registered in his mind. "My-my mum? But isn't she like... dead?"

Jay gave him an odd look. "Wait? What!? I hope that's a horrible joke, right? I've seen her last Hogsmeade Day! You remember? When we lost sight of you and you went back to Hogwarts yourself."

_No way! Is she ALIVE? What about my father! Do they both LIVE here?_

Harry immidiately jumped to his feet and ran out of the common room, leaving a bewildered Jay behind. It took him next to no time to get to the Headmaster's office and he didn't even have to verbally attack the Gargoyle with candy names as it for some sort of reason wasn't there anymore.

Instead he found himself standing in front of an ordinary wooden door with a knocker shaped like the head of a cat with a ring in it's mouth. Harry glanced around. He should be at the right place. He hesitated shortly before grabbing the knocker and banging it a few times against the small metalplate behind it.

He found it odd that he didn't hear a really loud sound from it, but figured that the Headmaster would be able to hear it with the help of magic anyway. And indeed, some moments later the door opened and Harry walked slowly up the stone stairs behind it.

It was really odd that the entrance had changed like that and he wondered why for a moment until he found himself in the office. He got another surprise as it was not Dumbledore but professor McGonagall sitting behind the Headmaster's desk and pouring over parchments.

She stared sternly through her spectacles at him. "Can I help you, Mister Potter?"

Harry was lost for words as he tried to figure out both where Dmbledore was as remember his reason for coming there. Pewrhaps the Headmaster ad other bisuness and proffesor McGonagall briefly took over his work?

"Professor, I need to go home! It's very important!"

She put down her quill. "And why is that?"

_Well, I just found out that my parents who were killed when I was only a year old are still alive here. Oh and btw, I am from an Alternate Universe where I am the Boy-Who-Lived and everybody expects me to miraculously kill Voldemort or at least be some sort of symbol for the fight against Dark Wizards.I also am suffering from explosive anger bouts, am apparently a fire elemental and people kept making stupid remarks about my sexuality which really makes me feel uncomfortable. People think I'm an douche, I have to write an essay about a potion that no one seems to know about, my two best friends are not my best friends anymore and- _

"Are you alright, Mister Potter?" McGonagall asked after his long silence and he gave a brief nod. "You do know that only in extreme emergencies students can floo home."

He then asked for the next best thing. "Can I please fire-call home instead? It's truely important!"

McGonagall gave him a long taxating look, taking in his ruffled appearance and then let out a deep breath. "Alright, Mister Potter. I'll let you do this only once, but don't tell the other students, or else they all want to call home. Do you understand?"

He waited in anticipation and then in one euphoric moment; he saw Lily's-no, his mothers'-face in the fire.

He greedily took in her concerned expression. Her long, red curls that fell in a waterfall over her shoulders. Her bright and large eyes. Her smooth skin.

This was his MOTHER!

He realized that she was talking to him and snapped out of his euphoria.

"-Harry? Harry? Are you alright? Is there something wrong? Please talk to me!"

Harry could hardly talk. There was something stuck in his throat.

"No… Mum. It's nothing. I'd just... I'd just-wanted to see you."

Lily seemed confused for a moment but then smiled hesitantly at him. "How are you? And how is your brother? Is school going fine? Are you having trouble with your study? If so, I'm sure I can arrange that you get extra help."

Harry smiled brightly at her, not minding the fact that she thought he was dull-witted too, like all the other people here. Come on, this was his mother! He still couldn't truely apprehend the fact that she was alive!

"I'm fine! Everything is just fin-wait! What? My brother?"

Lily sighed deeply and rubbed her brow as if she was getting a headache. "Please don't tell me you two are still ignoring each other? You're family! No matter how much you dislike each other! Please make up together, for me?"

Harry was still surprised to hear he had a brother. A brother who was currently at Hogwarts! What would he look like?

But eager to please his newly found mum he nodded. "I-I will. I promise.... Mum."

She smiled another sweet smile, and Harry felt a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wished he could fire-travel to her and hug her tightly.

He would never let her go.

"Are you done?" McGonagall came back.

"Almost!" He yelled over his shoulder and turned back to face his mum. "I have to go mum."

"Sweety, in a few weeks it will be Christmas. We shall see you then. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"Be strong sweetheart, and make us proud of you." She gave him a soft smile, her green eyes so much like his own stared full warmth at him and Harry had to swallow to keep himself from actually crying.

"Bye," he choked out and then he was only staring at the fire again. He stood mechanically up, gave his thanks to McGonagall and walked dazed back to the dormitories. He suddenly froze midstep as he was really hit by what he'd just heard. Not only was his mother and probably father too, since she had said 'we' alive here...

"I have a **brother** and he is here at Hogwarts!?!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	20. Protege Moi

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

not beta-read

* * *

**20. Protege Moi**

_Paupières baissées, visages gris,  
Surgissent les fantômes de notre lit  
On ouvre le loquet de la grille  
Du taudis qu'on appelle maison._

_Protect me from what I want_

* * *

A brother. There was a brother-a sibling that had the last name Potter-here at Hogwarts. But who was it? Had he met him already? Probably not, since according to Lily-mum-they were currently not on speaking terms.

Harry glanced to the side where he saw Nathan talking animatedly with who he was sure was Terry Boot; the guy who had insulted him and whom Harry had threatened with the jelly-up-your-nose-jinx.

He sighed a bit saddened. So his brother was not talking to him and neither was Nathan. He still didn't know what to do about the situation between them, even though a few days had passed already. His eyes started to scan the people in the Great Hall again as his hand picked with a fork at his potato, mashing it into bits without even noticing. It was Saturday evening and almost every student was having dinner at this point.

So far he hadn't really seen anyone who could be it. No one with his eye colour, no one with his wild hair. Or red curls like mum. Or anything! It was frustrating. He could of course just walk up to Jay and ask him if he knew. Problem with that was that the other had shown he was really too perceptive. He would figure out Harry was not the Harry he had know-if he hadn't already guessed so- if he actually asked for his own brother's name!

Besides that, the boy had been disappearing a lot lately. It was as if Harry only saw him during lessons and dinner and even then Jay was always sitting somewhere else, mostly with the blonde girl. At night, he didn't even sleep in the dormitories. Harry had heard some rumours about him sleeping with a seventh year, but didn't know how much value to put to things said in Hogwarts' rumour mill.

Thankfully he'd already scheduled another 'training session' with Jay for over two days, so perhaps he'd tell then what he had been up to these past days. Harry glanced at his plate and stared a bit perplexed at what appeared to be a miniature Hogwarts made of mashed potatoes. He had been working on a moat around it.

Harry frowned, he certainly hadn't done that, had he? A quick glance around showed no one paid attention to him. He glanced back at it. It would have taken a spell to make it look like that; was someone trying to fool him?

Harry dropped his fork. He had enough of this and stood up. He needed to talk with someone and since his supposed friends were not there for him, he would go to the one who was always there for him. As he walked out of the Great hall, he wondered if he hadn't gotten too dependant on her, but she was truly his only confident.

He picked up his pace and then started to sprint towards the seventh floor.

"Harry, my goodness, are you alright?" Morgane asked a bit startled at his sudden appearance. Harry gasped and tried to catch his breath before he stood straight up again and gave her a broad smile. The run had helped him disperse some excess energy and he certainly felt better. Perhaps he should try to fly more often?

"Yes, I'm good. Especially since you're here!"

"You flatter me, Harry," she smiled amused at his sudden nice words. "Besides: where else would I be? Is there something I can help you with?"

Harry came closer and then took a deep breath. "Have I told you," he started to speak and averted his eyes to the wall. "That I've never known my parents?"

Morgane shook slowly her head, even though Harry wasn't able to see it with his gaze turned inwardly. "How come you never have known them?"

"They were killed by Voldemort when I was but a babe and I've grown up without them. And just guess what happened yesterday."

Morgane proved to be a smart statue indeed. "You found out that in this world, they are still alive."

"I-I did. And not only that, I have a brother! Can you believe it? And of course this world's Harry was a prat and they are fighting! I don't even know what he looks like."

Harry took some steps back, tilted his head to the side and stared at Morgane as if to demand an answer from her. After a moment of silence he slowly shook his head. "I've never been so lost, Morgane… This is beyond any imagination, right?"

But instead of waiting for her to answer he went on talking. "I was euphoric when I found out they're still here," He sighed. "I got permission from Professor McGonnagall to firecall home. I got to speak with my mother, she's really beautiful you know, people always told me I have her eyes and it is so true. But hers are prettier. And her hair is really fiercely red-but perhaps that was only because of the flames. Oh, but she mentioned my brother and I wonder if I've already met him and why mum said we should make up-"

He took a deep breath and continued talking. "-I want to meet my parents so badly, Morgane. Really in person, but I'm scared too. It will be like meeting strangers, not my parents. And what if they realize I'm not the Harry they raised? But they will still be my parents, right? They can't hate me, right? I mean, I'm their son!"

Morgane waited patiently while he ranted and let go of his thoughts. When he was finally silent, after having said every thought that had been whirling around in his mind, a sudden silence settled over the hallway.

"So what do you want me to say, Harry?" Morgane finally asked. Harry raised confused his head.

"Do you want me to tell you that everything will be alright? That your parents will love you for who you are? That your brother will like you? That you will return to your world in no time? That suddenly everything will go as you wish without trying?"

"I-um. What? I'm not sure if I'm following you?"

Morgane gave a great sigh and then relaxed, for as much as a statue could. "I am sorry Harry, but I am a bit displeased with your behaviour. I know that you are confused and, well, emotionally unbalanced right now. But all you do about it is complain to me." 

Harry had the good sense to look a bit ashamed at this. It was true.

"We had a talk some days ago about what you could do to make a bit of sense of things, yet I do not think you have."

"I had good reason too! You don't know how strange it has been for me! Every time I have to remind myself that people don't know me like I do them. Every time I have to watch my words, so I don't say things that make no sense in this world. There are people strolling around who I saw dying with my own eyes! Teachers whom I've never met. And for some sort of reason Dumbledore isn't anywhere to be found! I thought it was strange that Professor McGonnagal was in his rooms, but now that I think about it... Morgane, where is Dumbledore?"

"I believe he is to be found on his family's land."

"What? What is he doing there? Why did he leave McGonagall in charge?"

"Professor McGonagall is the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Harry. Dumbledore was the Headmaster before her, but he resigned his position in 1980."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Pardon? I kid you not." Morgane answered a bit annoyed, as if insulted by the thought. "You have not been following my suggestions. Am I right, Harry?" She was still peeved and stared sternly down at him, making Harry wish he'd thought twice about going to her for advice. She was worse than a teacher.

Harry raised a brow. "Like what?" He questioned.

"Like reading a History book. Finding out about this world."

"Well, you see... studying never really was my thing! Besides, I always had Hermione to help me! Now I'm just lost when it comes to finding the right information. And where."

"Did you even try?"

"Of course I did! I have to research something about Potions and I used that excuse to search info about travelling dimensions and the history of this world too. I could find nothing about other dimensions only Timetravel and those were only a few books. And the History books are boring as hell! And 'Hogwarts; a history' is quite similar to the one from my dimension, so it was a horror to try to read that. I quit after the first chapter."

"Old newspapers then?"

"We have those?"

"Just ask Maurice. He will be willing to help you."

"Maurice? The Librarian?" Harry was silent for a moment, but then gave a nod. "Okay. I'll go there immediately. I promise."

Morgane smiled an approving smile and Harry, true to his word, headed towards the Library.

It was quiet in the corridors. The only voices came from people in paintings hanging here and there. As the weekend had just begun, there was practically no one in the Library itself. That was a good thing. Now Harry didn't have to put up his guard and try not to stand out too much.

He recognised the wizard from his earlier visits to the Library with Nathan. He was standing at a table and seemed to be arranging some paperwork. The man was wearing black robes with a bright blue collar and a pair of blue-framed glasses that went well with them. He looked smart and educated like a true librarian should and Harry thought even his name, Maurice, sounded wise.

He didn't know if he could call the man by his first name though. Harry scolded himself inwardly for not asking Morgane his full name.

After a short moment Maurice noticed Harry standing in the doorway and gave him a warm smile.

"Good evening, Harry."

It was easy to return the smile. "Good evening," Harry responded and walked further into the room. "Am I disturbing you? You look busy," he said with an eye on the paperwork in front of Maurice.

"Just finishing the administration for the weekend, that's all. Are you working on your Potions project again?"

Harry frowned. He hadn't forgotten the assignment that Snape, who was probably a git in every world, had given him.

"No, actually…I got kinda stuck on that subject, I haven't succeeded in finding any information whatsoever," complained Harry.

"Well, if books can't help you, how about contacting some Potions Masters for help?"

Harry was surprised he hadn't thought about that one. He really should remember he didn't stand alone in this world. "That sounds like a plan," he admitted.

After receiving some helpful tips about which Potions Masters to contact-apparently Maurice had a lot of connections-Harry asked Maurice for the newspapers he was looking for. The Librarian led him to a side room in which thousands of folders containing very old and very recent Daily Prophets where stored on large bookshelves.

All folders were neatly sorted and labelled with keywords. Maurice explained that the newspapers had to stay in a secluded part of the library in a conditioned environment. He showed Harry a large wooden table on which one could lay out several papers at once. After that he left Harry in the room to do his research.

Harry walked up and down the aisles, sometimes picking out one of the folders he thought might be interesting. About half an hour later he sat down at the table with a large pile of Prophets, some lesser known papers and even a Quibbler.

One by one he started to skim through the stuffy documents, picking out papers with promising headlines or interesting photo's. Finally he had selected a small pile of papers and started to read.

The first headline that caught his eye made him laugh; the Chudley Cannons had won three times in a row, oh how happy Ron would be!

It surprised Harry that there was no news involving Voldemort in the recent newspapers. He wondered shortly what his nemesis would be up to at the moment when he turned a page and was greeted by a picture full of waving people. In the middle of the group stood some huge kind of plant. Harry read the enclosed article. It seemed a family in Scotland had grown the largest Mandrake in known history and was rewarded for it by the Minister for Magic himself.

Harry sceptically raised a brow. Didn't the Minister have better things to do? Since he had time to visit citizens, Harry concluded that Voldemort was laying low somewhere.

There were several advertisements of shops in Diagon Alley that Harry recognized. For example Gringotts Wizarding Bank assured every Galleon within its walls to be safe and Gambol & Japes had a new collection of Pocket Sized Jokes.

In a somewhat older newspaper Harry read that Evelynn Norrington had been appointed as Chief Warlock in the Wizengamot. There was a detailed interview with her on page four.

Harry came across Dumbledore's name for the first time after an hour of reading. His old Headmaster seemed to be supreme Mugwup, whatever that might be. The article didn't give more information on his whereabouts or his occupation though. Harry thought for a moment, staring at the name on the old, yellowed parchment.

Morgane and Maurice had both showed him it was smart to ask help from other people... Harry made up his mind quickly and decided to write Dumbledore a letter.

Harry grabbed a shiny, green-black quill and dipped the tip into the inkpot. The first words were quite easy to write, but then he halted. What could he possibly write to him? And what if the letter was intercepted by Voldemort? So perhaps it would be better if he kept it short and didn't give away too much information.

Not to mention the fact that this would not be his Dumbledore. He seriously hoped that this Albus was not as manipulative and sneaky as from his Universe. But still, the man was brilliant and intelligent. Harry knew that if there was one wizard who could possibly help him, it would be his old Headmaster... even though he probably had to explain everything about his world and how he had gotten here.

_Dear Dumbledore,_

_It is of uttermost importance that I get to speak with you.  
I am a student at Hogwarts and in a complicated situation of which only you can help me with.  
Please agree to meet me at your soonest convenience._

_Sincerely,  
Harry Potter_

Harry read over his short letter-the eight other tries lay crumbled on the floor-and gave a short nod. This would do. Hopefully the old man would be curious and helpful enough to actually arrange a meeting between them. But knowing the old coot, the words _'only you can help me_' would already be enough to lure him in.

Harry chuckled and bend down to scoop up the wads of paper and he dropped them in the nearest trashcan. He was already near the door with his letter when he stopped, turned around and send an 'incinerate' into the trashcan to burn everything inside.

Better not take any chances.

He went to the Owlery to send his letter away with a schoolowl. Hedwig was nowhere in sight.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	21. No One Needs to Know

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Not Beta-Read

_**

* * *

  
**_

**21. No One Needs to Know**

_I met a tall, dark and handsome man  
And I've been busy making big plans  
But no one needs to know,  
right now_

_I got my heart set, my feet wet  
And he don't even know it yet  
But no one needs to know,  
right now  


* * *

_

Harry got up as one of the first in his dormitories, although he never had been an early riser. This could simply be explained by the fact that all the others were sleeping out late because it was Sunday. He picked up the book he had borrowed from the library and stumbled groggy downstairs to the common room.

There he sprawled out on the large brown couch in front of the fireplace and was happily surprised to find the wood inside the hearth burning as soon as he sat down. For a brief moment he wondered if it was simply magic of Hogwarts itself or the house elves.

He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts since it made him think of SPEW, and opened the book. It was a history book, telling about no one other than Neville Longbottom. It was probably a nice enough read, and perhaps very well-written, though Harry merely skipped through it to read things that sounded familiar to him. He was mostly interested in things that Neville as the Boy-Who-Lived had in common with him.

It took only a few paragraphs to find out that the writer of the book honoured Neville like a god. This made Harry roll his eyes. It even had photographs of Neville growing up WITH his parents-fate was really unfair to Harry-and about his first four years at Hogwarts. A brief glance at the first page showed that the book was now two years old.

Neville's life story seemed rather dull to him. Nothing seriously disturbing happened during his first year at Hogwarts. He seemed to be a good student according to the several interviews with teachers. His classmates all saw him as a role-model and a perfect leader, although Harry doubted how much of that was true.

In Neville's second year there was a teacher who worshipped him to the extreme. The teacher accidentally caused a huge fire in the Main Hall on the 5th of November: the day the almost one-an-a-half year old Neville's defeated Voldemort, while trying to set off some fireworks for celebration. Harry shortly thought of Gilderoy Lockhart, who didn't get fired in his world simply because there would have been no one to replace him.

Neville's third and fourth year were as exiting as his first two. He'd never seemed to have battled Dementors, or even Voldemort himself. Harry started to wonder if Voldemort even existed in this world, since there was next to no news about the Dark Lord whatsoever.

Some time passed while Harry skimmed aloof through the book and he could hear the first Hufflepuffs waking up and getting ready to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry flipped another page and then froze in his seat.

For a long time he stared astonished at the heart-shaped burn mark on Neville's chest. This picture was made at the end of his fourth year and though at the beginning of the book, there was a photo of baby-Neville with a small smudge on his chest, this one was very clear and up close.

A heart-shaped burn mark.

Harry shut the book forcefully closed and then threw it at the foot of his couch. He racked disturbed with a hand through his wild hair and sighed. There was no way that such a mark was made by the Killing Curse! He was certain of it. Was Neville even attacked by the Voldemort that Harry knew? Or could Voldemort be a totally different person in this world? What curse could possibly leave a heart-shaped scar? What in the world did this all mean?

'_Where's Hermione when you really need her_?' Harry thought, still kind of shocked.

"Good morning, Harry," a Hufflepuff girl said as she and a small group of students walked passed him.

"Morning, 'Mione-" Harry automatically responded, not noticing the weird look the unknown girl gave him as he still stared at the book near his feet. It was then that Jay popped up from behind the couch, made a strange half-turn as he catapulted over the back of the couch and then landed on top of the book.

He flopped down cross-legged on top op de book, frowned and then fished the offending object from underneath him.

"What are you reading?" he asked and send Harry a brilliant smile. Jay had his way of materializing quite suddenly when you least expected it, as Harry had figured out in the small week he had been in this world. Jay also had the bad habit of asking things when he could figure out the answer only seconds later by himself.

Before Harry could come up with a decent answer, Jay had already opened the book and skimmed through it. He frowned and then closed it again to check out the title. He gave Harry an odd look at his choice of literature.

"Good morning Jay. And yes I am," Harry said dryly, anticipating the other's question.

"Reading my thoughts then?" Jay laughed. "I was just about to ask you if you really were reading crap about Neville Longbottom, 'cause that's just weird."

This made Harry laugh too, he seconded that thought. Perhaps he should've borrowed a book about Goblin Wars instead? It would have been less mind-numbing! Although Harry secretly though the chapter about Neville's run in with a crazed stalker had been quite funny.

Then Nathan came down from the stairs and Jay threw the book carelessly on a small table next to him.

"Breakfast Nathan?" he asked as he propelled himself up from the couch.

"Sounds like a plan!" Nathan grinned and then looked at Harry. His grin waned.

'_I'm supposed to say something to him…_' Harry thought as he looked back at his so-called best friend, but nothing came up. Nathan was probably hesitating to ask him along or not.

"How about you and me go along, and Harry gets dressed right now and catches up with us?" Jay asked Nathan.

Nathan nodded his head slowly. "Okay. See you in a minute, Harry," he said with a small nod.

"And not a second later or you'll get a peanut butter jelly-sandwich in your hair!" Jay added jokingly. "Let's go, Nathan! Last one there is a slimy flobberworm!"

Harry stared after them and then smiled at Jay's attempt to break the awkward silences between him and Nathan. And since Nathan actually said a few words to him AND called him Harry-and not 'Potter'-he hoped it was working. His stomach growled, so Harry did as he was told and quickly got dressed.

He left the book on his night stand. He would return it later that day. There was just one thought bothering him: why a peanut butter jelly-sandwich in his hair? Was that a private joke or something?

Breakfast was decent. The food of course was great, and Nathan and Harry carefully conversed together again, which seemed to please Jay. All in all, things were starting to look brighter again. Afterwards though, Jay went off to his girlfriend and apparently he also had Quidditch practise that afternoon.

Harry and Nathan shared an uncomfortable look. Both trying to decide if they should invite the other into doing something together, when of all people, Wicket walked up to them. She gave a polite nod towards Harry and then asked Nathan if he had some time to spare for her.

Nathan send an even more uncomfortable look at Harry who simply shrugged. He tried to look as unconcerned as he could, since he thought Nathan might be worried about the ex-girlfriend-of-Harry thing. It worked and while Nathan left to talk with Wicket, Harry went back to his dorms to fetch the book and bring it back to the library.

It was quite a bit later that day, when Harry finally left the Library again. It seemed he was becoming as studious as Hermione; Ron would probably try to check his temperature if he were there. See if he was not ill. Harry still could not see the pleasure in reading books, but he had no other choice.

He was walking through the hallway and wondering if Quidditch practice would be over already and if he could borrow a broom to fly with for a bit, when he was accosted by something, small, shiny and very familiar. For a moment, Harry only wondered why there was currently a snitch flying enticing in front of his face, but then he lunged at it. The little snitch, anticipating his action, quickly fluttered away and down the hallway, making sure he was still near enough for Harry to catch up with it.

The green-eyed Hufflepuff started to grin, recognizing it to be the same behaviour the little ball boasted on the Quidditch field, and not one to refuse a challenge, he ran after it. He was glad he didn't have a book bag with him, for it would have slowed him down and he darted around a corner only to slam forcefully into another person.

The air left his lungs and he quickly held onto the other to keep them both standing on their feet. He gasped as he felt several parts of his body ache from having slammed into the other. Perhaps his speed had been a little too fast.

Harry was about to apologise when he noticed who it exactly was and he violently pushed away, making them lose their balance and they both fell hard on the tile floor.

Draco Malfoy groaned with his eyes closed and a grimace of pain was on his face. Harry in turn cursed below his breath as now his tail bone was hurting quite badly too. The blond opened his eyes and stared for a moment disgruntled at Harry.

"Gee, thanks for pushing me down-" He muttered as he rubbed over a spot on his chest where Harry's elbow had slammed into.

"You should've watched out when you turned the corner, Malfoy," Harry said accusing, though he knew it had been his fault too. Malfoy seemed to bring out the worst in him.

"I'm sorry, I was just distracted."

Harry bit back the harsh reply he had on his lips at hearing those words. Malfoy just apologised? Harry mentally hit his forehead; he had forgotten that this was not the Malfoy from his world! This was the abnormally decent one! Aw man, well, since he had given his excuses it would only be polite if he did the same.

"I'm sorry too. I was trying to catch a rogue snitch," he finally said.

Malfoy blinked and then gave a rare laugh. "Funny, I was after that one too. We dropped the Quidditch box and accidentally let loose two bludgers and the snitch. We caught one of the bludgers already, but the other two are still on the loose."

Let that just be the time that a certain snitch decided to grace them with their presence by hovering near Draco's ear. Harry's hand shot out by instinct to snatch it out of the air and Draco flinched away from him. Harry stared for a moment at the small golden ball in his hand; it's wings were fluttering like an maniac.

Draco also stared at the snitch. "Oh-."

"Here." Harry pushed it into Draco's hand and chuckled. Never did he expect to hand over a snitch to Draco Malfoy of all people. "Now you only have to get that bludger."

Draco was now the one staring at the snitch in his hand. He glanced up and Harry noticed that his eyes were a nice mercury colour. He'd always though Draco Malfoy's eyes were blue. Funny. Just as funny as the fact that they were sitting on the cold floor of a corridor, slightly bruised but for one time not because of a fight between them.

This Draco was actually quite agreeable and he didn't sneer as nastily as the other.

His butt was getting quite cold and Harry decided to stand up and Draco reached out his free hand. "Since you were the only who pushed me down, you should be the one helping me up!" Draco claimed with a grin.

Harry shrugged and held out his hand which Draco grasped firmly. Harry gave a short pull, but still used too much force, and Draco stumbled against Harry. Harry blinked as he felt the other against him and then something fluttered against his chest.

It were the wings of the snitch.

Draco stepped undaunted away from him. "Thanks. Hey, since that bludger is still on the loose: be careful, okay? I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Harry answered and stared after him. This was the second time he had bumped into Draco Malfoy. Wait a minute. How many people had he literally ran against these past few days? Four people? Five? Was he getting as clumsy like Tonks or something?

Harry shook his head bemused. Perhaps he'd been a bit too distracted lately, or was it simply because some people seemed to badger this world's Harry that they kept trying to make him fall to the ground? He made a mental note to pay more attention to where he walked.

He didn't encounter the rogue bludger, but heard later on in the Hufflepuff dorms that it apparently went straight for Neville Longbottom, but was blocked by Ron's head. Harry grinned. Finally it was not him who was the trouble magnet!

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	22. Wish I Could Fly

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Not Beta-Read

* * *

**22. I Wish I Could Fly**

_I wish I could fly  
Around and around  
Over this town  
The dirt on the ground_

_I'd follow your course  
Of doors left ajar  
To try to find out  
Who you really are_

* * *

As the weather got colder and wetter, the first Quidditch match came closer and closer. Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw was supposed to be held at the end of November, but due to circumstances it was re-scheduled to saturday the 15th of December.

Harry found it somewhat frustrating to know that he wasn't on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He could certainly use the distraction of the game, but in this world he didn't even own a broomstick! This would be the first time Harry got to see a Quidditch match from the stands though, from where he would see his own house team play.

The exited buzz in the corridors and in the Great Hall though was the same as Harry had always known it. People were making bets with each other and comparing team members. Harry heard a lot of good things about Jay as Chaser. Harry curiously wondered if his new friend would be as quick in the air as he was on the ground.

Another happy thing was that Nathan seemed to be more at ease around Harry again, though things weren't as they had been before his outburst. They were rather careful with what they said to eachother and how they phrased it, almost just as careful as someone would be who was walking on the eggshells of an Antipodean Opaleye.

Just before the game was about to commerce, Harry and Nathan found themselves a spot on the stands amongst their fellow Hufflepuffs. He glanced curiously around the pitch and then his eyes fell across of them, where the stand was red with Gryffindor shawls. His old house was mostly cheering for Ravenclaw.

There was a girl with glasses and brown, shoulder-length hair amongst the Gryffindors though, who was jumping excitedly up and down, and who had not only a Gryffindor shawl, but also a Hufflepuff one wrapped around her neck. Her loud voice could be heard as she tried to get the attention of the team that was just flying out.

She waved with a large Hufflepuff flag and hollered loudly: "GO PUFFMEISTER! BEAT THOSE RAVENS!"

Harry glanced startled at Nathan, who laughed at the girl's antics. Harry was about to ask who the girl was when he thought it might sound strange to Nathan to ask about someone who'm he ought to know, after 6 years of Hogwarts. "She sure knows how to cheer our team on," he commented instead as he motioned into her direction.

"Of course, we can't expect less from Ancilla! She's the BESTest Hufflepuff supporter ever!"

"Not to mention one of Jay's many fan-girls," a unknown girl besides Harry added. "She and Zoe actually founded his fanclub."

"Zoe?" asked Harry curious.

"Jay's girlfriend, the blonde next to her," the girl answered and pointed over at the blonde girl he'd seen disappearing with Jay sometimes. He didn't notice Nathan's odd look.

So Jay had a fanclub, Harry wondered to himself. He could see why, even he thought Jay was pretty awesome. But fan-girls? Before Harry knew it a picture of Jay surrounded by screaming girls that were trying to rip his clothes off-and Jay desperately trying to get away intact-popped up in his mind.

Harry let out a bark of laughter and then tried to hide his snickers behind his hand. It actually reminded him of something silly that had happened in his third year. That girl with the towel at Diagon Alley, claiming 'nothing could come in between her and Harry Potter' had made front page news.

Though Harry hadn't been anywhere in the vicinity, the press had made up incredible stories about him and the nearly-naked girl. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and looked in the direction that the girl had pointed to.

At that moment however, the Quidditch game started. The Flight Instructor, Brevis Birch, who was now referee for the game, blew his whistle and the Quaffle, Bludgers and Snitch shot up in the air.

Hufflepuff's team proved to be more than well-matched with the Ravenclaw team. Both Keepers were able to stop most attempts at goals, though the Ravenclaw Keeper let himself be distracted by a very obvious feint with a bludger, which Hufflepuff used to score 10 points.

Jay made quite a lot of reckless moves, some even seemed to startle his fellow Chasers, and Harry at times found himself holding his breath in fright. He wondered briefly if his friends in his own world had always feared for his own well-being like he was now for Jay?

Then there was a loud bang as the two Seekers crashed into each other just mere meters above the ground. Both lost their grip on their broomsticks and tumbled down onto the ground. Harry, Nathan and most of the other students jumped immidiately to their feet in order to see things better.

Were they hurt? Did one of the Seekers still hold the Golden Snitch in their hand?

It turned out that both the Seekers had caught the Snitch, but in their rough tumble to the ground, the wings of the Snitch had ripped off and both Seekers were left staring dazed at a now motionless, delicate wing in the palms of their hands.

Brevis Birch called it a stalemate and both teams received the 180 points for catching the snitch, even though the golden ball of the Snitch had disappeared. This left Hufflepuff as the winner by 30 points!

Nathan jumped up and down in excitement while Harry tried to catch his breath again. Watching a game from the stands was almost as exciting as being in the middle of it!

"That was a bloody awesome game!" Nathan said, and Harry couldn't agree more.

They met up with Jay again in the Hufflepuff common room where the victory party was in full swing. Everyone went up to the Quidditch team with their congradulations and butterbeer was handed from hand to hand. Harry listened interested at the tale of the Seeker, Summerby, who was actually a very funny storyteller.

He finally drifted off to a lesser crowded part of the common room where he slumped down on a loveseat. He took a sip of his butterbeer when Jay approached him and after a friendly nod to Harry, he whirled around and sat down on the ground with his back against Harry's leg.

Harry blinked, then shrugged and handed over a butterbeer he had intended to drink himself after he had finished the one in his hand. But he figured he could always get another one if he really wanted to. He was just starting to think that the warmth of Jay's back against his leg was rather comfortable, when the Chaser asked if he and Nathan had made up yet.

Harry shrugged, knowing that Jay could feel the movement.

"It's still awkward at times," he muttered and took another sip of his butterbeer. Jay hadn't touched his yet.

"It's probably only at times when you say or do something out of character again," Jay said and Harry immidiately froze. He then watched how Jay calmly fetched his wand from his robes and put up a Muffler-charm around them, adding another spell that would alert him if anyone tried to breach it.

Jay continued talking as if they were speaking about the weather. "Nate just misses him," Jay apologized on behalf of his friend, and then glanced over his shoulder up at Harry. "His real best friend, I mean."

Harry didn't find anything comfortable about the situation anymore and started to fidget. His grip on his bottle had tightened. What did Jay mean exactely?

"He isn't all that bad, you know." Jay started to tell. "Very loyal. Fun to be around when it comes to card games like Exploding Snap and such. When his little brother was in trouble with Snape, he actually claimed the blame, though he never told him. And when Nathan was in the infirmary, our Harry actually paid attention in class only so he could present Nate with good notes for studying."

Harry was now very worried. Did this mean that Jay knew about him?

"Our Harry would never ask me to train him." Jay continued talking. "He preferred being lazy over being tired. He rather played games then doing something like studying or learning."

Harry licked his dry lips. "You-You know?" Harry finally asked, though not specific in his question in case Jay was making odd guesses about Harry's changed behavior.

Jay turned around to face Harry properly. "Yes," he answered seriously. "You are definitely not our Harry, though I don't know what you're aiming for. And you probably won't tell who you really are."

Harry couldn't speak as he was stunned by that revelation, and Jay shrugged. "Just know that I'm watching you... and I'm not the only one."

He set the un-opened butterbeer next to him and stood up in order to walk away, yet Harry jumped up to grab his wrist. "I'm not a Death Eater," was the only thing he could think of saying.

Jay's dark-brown eyes stared seriously back in his own green ones. "If you say so," the boy answered lightly and then a lazy grin appeared on his face.

"Next training is monday after dinner. Be ready and don't eat too much, cause I'm going to step things up a notch."

With a wave of his wand, the spells he had set up desolved and he walked to some of his friends, leaving Harry dumbstruck behind. Should he be worried about monday?

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**A Extra Warning:  
**_This story is going to have a boyxboy-relationship in it. This was our intention when we started writing the story._


	23. Home To You

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Not Beta-Read_**

* * *

  
**_

**23. Home To You**

_I get up and battle the day _  
_ Things don't always go my way _  
_ It might rain but that's okay _  
_ I get to come home to you _

_

* * *

_

It was Monday evening and Harry was wondering how not only Sunday, but also Monday, could have come and gone so fast. It was with clear trepidation that he had gone to classes and with even more hesitation to dinner. Thankfully, Jay was sitting some seats away and was discussing something with the Quidditch Captain.

Harry didn't know what to think of him anymore. So far he'd seen Jay as good friend to have, though mysterious and slightly 'off'. There was no way that ordinary students could move and calculate situations the way Jay showed he could. So this meant that he had gone through some kind of of training, and Harry found the excuse that his 'Uncle the Auror' had taught him a bit too easy an excuse.

With that in mind: should he go meet Jay that evening or skip it and hope the guy wouldn't come looking for him? What if Jay was going to ask about his world's Harry?

_'Oh him? Yeah sorry, I kinda killed him the moment I arrived on this world. But don't worry! I suspect he was a Death Eater anyway, so no big loss, right?'_

Somehow, Harry doubted that Jay would act very well on hearing that. Besides, Harry still didn't feel very guilty about killing the other Harry after all; the boy had tried to kill him first. Then again, if Harry saw someone looking like him at Hogwarts, he would think it to be a Death Eater too and act first and ask questions later.

Though to go as far as using an Unforgivable?

Harry was startled out of his musing when an owl landed in his soup. For a second he only stared at the disgruntled bird that spit out a letter into his lap and then tried to get out of the soup. It slipped back into the liquid because the edge of the plate was too smooth.

Nathan next to him laughed. "I see you chose chicken soup. It's kinda fresh, isn't it?"

Harry smiled and scooped the owl out of his bowl and placed the wet bird next to it. It immediately started to preen itself and Harry noticed it ate the vermicelli that was stuck to his feathers. He shook his head bewildered at the owl and then brought his attention to the letter on his lap.

It was the first letter he received since he had come here. His name was written in a loopy scrawl and Harry hoped that it was from Dumbledore. He was about to open it when suddenly another owl flew past his face. He watched after it and saw it make a turn to fly by again. This time it dropped a letter which Harry was able to catch before it landed in his already ruined soup.

The owl still had another envelope in its claws and flew with it to the Gryffindor table and disappeared there in the rowdy crowd that had gathered. Harry glanced at the envelope in his hand and froze. The handwriting was delicate and feminine, he could see that in one glance.

He quickly stood up and tried to see who at the Gryffindor table had received the other letter, but they were all too rowdy for him to see. He dropped back in his chair and stared at the envelope. It had to be from his mother. Certainly. Which would mean the other letter had gone to his brother. Which one was it? Did he look like their mother? Or perhaps more like James, just like Harry?

Harry wanted to rip open the envelope to read the precious words of **his** mother, but instead he quickly pushed it into his pocket and tried to focus on the other letter. He was afraid that if he read his mother's letter, he would burst out in tears in front of everybody in the Great Hall. That would be so humiliating!

The other letter made him sigh with relief. It was indeed from Dumbledore and the man invited him on saturday the 22nd to his house. He could use the Floo-network to the estate at two in the afternoon, though only with the permission of his Head of House or parents.

On Friday all the students would return home, so he would have to ask his mother. He probably could come up with needing to meet someone for a school-project. The thought of talking with his mother cheered him up a great deal. Just three more days and he would have the whole Christmas Holidays to get to know his parents and finally meet his little brother.

Maybe he even could fly with his brother! Or talk with Lily and James about, well he didn't really know what to talk about, but the subject didn't really matter. And he really wanted to meet the Sirius and Remus of this world!

Harry felt a small twinge in his heart when he thought about his Godfather and had to blink away the images of the veil that assaulted his brain. Remus had told him it wasn't his fault. But that didn't take away the fact that he missed Sirius greatly.

Harry tried to eat as slow as he could, figuring Jay would stay with the Quidditch Captain while they were eating, but was quickly up and out of the hallway when he was finished. You'd never know if the other boy would come after him.

"Harry, where are you going?"

"Nathan?" Thankfully it was his other 'friend'.

"We still need to finish our papers about Electricity! They have to be turned in before the holls!"

"I had forgotten about that!" muttered Harry distracted. He already had finished it on Sunday, while he had been hiding in the Library. And he was actually quite proud of that fact, for he was usually still writing his papers last-minute. "I was going to meet up with Jay though."

Nathan frowned. "For that 'training'-thing? Oh, I know! I'll tell Jay we got more urgent things to do. I'm sure he won't mind."

Harry wasn't as certain about that. But helping Nathan with his paper was a good excuse to avoid Jay for the time being. Perhaps he could check over his extra credit-project for Rosier.

"Well, okay, we'll finish the paper first then." Nathan was already making his way to the Hufflepuff table and beamed over his shoulder at Harry's agreement.

Nathan quickly returned and by the looks of it Jay had given them the green light. The blond was smiling from ear to ear as he told how Jay had said he was actually quite busy with Quidditch tonight to go training with Harry.

Harry threw a cautious glance at Jay and then stood up. Guess he still had some time to figure out what to tell him.

"Alright! Let's go," Harry said. "How far are you with your paper, Nathan?" he asked as they left the Great Hall and made their way to the Hufflepuff Dormitories.

"Well, you explained the whole battery-thing last week, so I decided I'd go into details about that. I asked some muggle-borns and learned that there are so many things that work on batteries! Really, those Muggles are depending on them, because their watches won't work without them! And there's this thing, like technical stuff, that provides them with music wherever they go. You know what that thing's called?"

Nathan paused and looked expectanly at Harry, who smiled at the other's enthousiasm and shook his head.

"It's called an 'Walkman', Harry!" Nathan laughed exuberant and Harry laughed along with him, though for other reasons than Nathan did.

As they made their way to the Library, Nathan told Harry about what he had found out about 'Tapes' that could be put into the walkman's and other things he had found out worked on batteries, they approached a group of Ravenclaw students who were being scolded by Professor Rosier.

Apparently they had been testing simple spells on a classmate's pet. The crying girl was standing behind Rosier and was clutching a pink furred animal, that apparently had been the compulsory guinea pig, to her chest.

When Harry and Nathan neared them, Professor Rosier was just ending his rant.

"You're lucky Professor McGonagall didn't catch you before I did! She'd have you in detention until the end of the year! Now back to your dorms!" he said in a stern voice that dared them to talk back at him. The Ravenclaws were smart enough to hold their mouths.

Though Harry stepped out of the way when the small group of Ravenclaws brushed past, he still managed to receive a nasty jab into his side. He glared annoyed after them as he rubbed over the sore spot.

What was that for? Harry thought they might be mad about Hufflepuff's win last Saturday. Or maybe they just didn't like him. But was that worth an elbow between his ribs?

"Did you see that?" he asked Nathan.

"That girl? Yeah, the poor kid," Nathan said sympathizing. Harry frowned. That was not what he meant. The girl and her pet would be fine, he was sure of it. Rosier had conjured a handkerchief out of thin air and offered to take the girl to the Infirmary.

Harry decided to drop it. But honestly, the next person that intentionally tried to trip, elbow or fight him would get repayed with a spell Fred and George had taught him.

When they were near the Library, Harry quickly ditched Nathan, promising him to come after him as soon as possible, and he diverted into the the boys lavatories. Perhaps not the most suitable place to read a letter from him mom, but he wished to read it as soon a she could and had no other private place currently near by.

Harry dove into a stall and locked the door, then he put a quick silencing charm around himself. It was with a loudly beating heart that he opened the letter and started to read. To his own chagrin, he actually started to weep.

Harry had seen his mother in the floo, had heard her voice as she spoke to him, but now here in his hands he held black-on-white, the proof that she existed. That she lived and loved him.

Try as he might, he could not keep some tears from falling on the letter and he tried wiping them away, only to smear out the ink. If he'd been thinking clearly, he could have remembered the spell that Hermione frequently used on Ron's homework.

The letter spoke of his mum's desire to see him and his brother. She described something silly that James had done and hinted that she'd found the perfect Christmas gift for him. It ended with the words 'With love from your mother'.

This made Harry swallow again and he quickly wiped with a sleeve over his eyes to get rid of the wetness.

It was unbelievable that his mother was still out there somewhere. That Harry would be with her, and his dad soon. It touched Harry in a deep place to know that they loved him. The care he never got from aunt Petunia, he would now receive from no one other than his own mother.

The support that uncle Vernon never showed to him would be given to him by his father. It was one thing to be loved and appreciated. Harry was loved and appreciated by Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, but he never knew the love and care of ones own parents.

To Harry it felt like he just stepped into a warm bath, soothing and comforting. It was such an overwhelming feeling that he took his time to recover well enough to face Nathan again without looking like he had just cried his heart out.

After a while, Harry tried to calm down by taking a few deep breaths and made his way to the Library where Nathan was waiting. He actually wanted to tell Morgane about this new state of mind, but Harry decided to not do that tonight. He promised himself to visit her after Christmas.

Nathan sighed impatiently when Harry finally sat down on the chair the blonde boy had saved for his friend.

Harry felt a little guilty about staying away for so long, but that didn't seem to be the reason Nathan had sighed. He had strewn all kinds of pictures and leaflets with brightly coloured advertisements of electric devices over the table and was studying them thoroughly.

"What are you doing Nathan?" Harry asked as his eyes scanned over the leaflets.

"Well, you see, I know everything about the use of batteries now, but what if they run out of electricity? Muggles can't simply point a wand at them and cast some refill-charm," Nathan said disgruntled. "None of these ads says something about refills and I don't know where else to look for information!"

Harry tried not to laugh while he quickly thought of something to say.

"You know, my cousin used to play with walky-talkies when he was younger," Harry started. Nathan nodded and pointed at one of the pictures on the table showing a set of walky-talkies.

"Right," said Harry, "-and one day they didn't work anymore, so my uncle replaced the batteries…"

Nathan's eyes grew wide and he nodded again. "And what did he do with the old ones?" he asked intrigued.

"He threw them away," Harry said.

"He threw them away?" Nathan gasped and slapped Harry on the shoulder. "He threw them away! Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Muggles don't refill batteries with charms! Harry, where's your quill? Write it down for me! Quickly!"

Harry laughed along with Nathan. The blonde guy was good company. Maybe Morgane was right about making new friends and learning more about this world. It made living in it a little easier.

**To Be Continued

* * *

  
**

_**VGJekyll: **__I chose as lyrics 'Home To You', cause that is the closest to Harry's emotions at the moment. Loved all the suggestions though, and am planning to use some for future chapters.  
_


	24. Snow

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Not Beta-Read

* * *

**24. Snow**

_Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder  
Where it's so white as snow  
Running through the field  
Where all my tracks will be concealed  
And there's nowhere to go_

* * *

It was Thursday the 20th and it was the day before all the students would go home to celebrate the holidays with their families. So naturally, it was the perfect day to have a inter house-snowfight. It started out as a playful game amongst a small group of friends, but resulted in a full-out battle between the 4th years and up against the younger students.

The battle was hash, cold and wet and it was in full swing when Harry spotted the jerk that had called him, oh so sarcastically, 'Lothario'. The jerk had noticed him too and send him a dark, challenging glare. Harry didn't understand why the kid seemed to have a bone to pick with him, but he be damned if he let the boy win.

And not before long, there was a private snowball fight going on between the two of them. The other students were quick to notice the thing going on between the two and picked sides.

At first it was just try to hit everything that moved, though Harry and the kid were only aiming at each other and anyone who was in their way, but some realized that they needed a strategy.

Jay came sliding on the wet snow to a halt beside Harry. "We need to get behind the enemy lines!" He informed him as he wiped some snow off his shirt. They both dropped close to the ground to avoid being hit by a volley of balls aimed at their heads.

"How about we first attack the sides with all we got and then enter from the back?"

"The left side is open, but there are some bastards on the right that have sharp eyes. They will definitely foil anyone, who is trying to sneak by."

"What about using those cannonball shots that Slytherin girl has been using?"

"Meredith's? Only a few know how to copy them, so that-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Nathan stood behind them, a melting snowball in his hand. Unfortunately, he was so distracted by his two friends that he forgot to take cover. The enemy took full use of that opportunity and launched an attack on the guy.

He was hit in the face by at least three balls, with two stray hitting his chest. He stood frozen for a moment, but then his face turned bright red and he raised his arm with a war-like cry.

"Now it's WAR!" He screamed outraged. "Fear me you midgets! RAWRRRR!"

He jumped over his friends and ran towards the enemy, uncaring that the snowballs flew around his ears.

Jay and Harry shared a surprised glance. Jay shrugged. "Screw strategy! ATTACK!"

They followed Nathan's reckless example, and ran to the enemy, ducking and rolling out of the way of snowballs. Then they suddenly found themselves amongst the enemy lines, who were confused. The confusion grew even more when the students on Harry's side did a full frontal attack and ran yelling and throwing snow at them as a bunch of homicidal Celts.

The younger years ran, knowing they could not win against this attack, but not before Harry dumped a handful of snow down the jerk's neck. The kid stared almost scared up at the grinning Harry, who noticed surprised there were actually tears of frustration in the boy's eyes.

"I'm so telling mum!" The boy yelled in his face and scrambled away.

This time it was Harry who stood frozen in his tracks. That boy-that boy was his brother? He had to be! Everything suddenly clicked into place. How could he not have noticed? Now he thought about it, it was blaring obvious.

Harry was so distracted by the sudden realization that he didn't notice someone sneaking up behind him.

He did however notice the cold of the snow he was just pushed face-first into. "What the Hell!" he yelled as his mouth was free of snow again and he rolled onto his back. Nathan stood hanging over him. He had his hands in his sides and was laughing like an over-tripping megalomaniac.

That stopped when Harry hooked his foot around the guy's ankle and kicked his leg away.

Unfortunately Nathan fell forwards and on top of Harry, who grunted. "Get off yer big oaf!" He muttered and then gasped for breath again when Jay decided to join the mash on the ground and let himself drop heavily on top of them.

"I'm dying here! Help!" Harry yelled as Jay rubbed snow in Natan's hair. The two rolled off Harry who, as soon as he had breath in his lungs again, summoned the half smashed pile of snowballs the younger years still had and redirected them to the fighting friends.

They actually squealed in surprise and then Harry was running over the field with two quasi-enraged friends after him. Occasionally a stray snowball was throw their way by other students, who were celebrating their victory by making snowmen in their likeliness.

The rest of the day was spend in the same relaxing manner and before they knew it, the next day had arrived and the Hogwarts Express was taking them to London.

Harry and his two friends had confiscated a compartment in the back of the train and were joined by two Ravenclaw girls. Soon they were in a friendly discussion about the last match. Harry noticed amused how Nathan was trying to flirt with the brunette and not much later Jay got lured away by his girlfriend, probably for a quick last snog.

When the two girls left for a moment to, supposedly to go to the loo, Nathan nudged him and winked suggestively. "Kia's so obviously hitting on you!"

"Wait? What?"

"Aw man? You didn't notice? She was all over you! Not to mention the fact that I know there's not a girl in the world who really is interested in knowing the techniques of doing a Wonkski Feint, unless she is a Seeker herself. Kia is just pretends to be interested to make you notice what a cool and awesome girl she is!"

Harry was rather baffled. He really hadn't noticed anything, but then again Hermione had complained many times about how obvious Harry was. Ron too, now that he thought about it.

"Just um-" Nathan continued a bit uncertain. "-where did you learn all that stuff? I mean, that Twister Turn you mentioned is a rarely done Seeker-move. And you never really showed much interest in Quidditch..."

Harry shrugged. Here came another awkward moment.

"I just changed a bit. Thought I would read up on it, with my two best friends being such big fans."

Nathan nodded slowly when Harry said the first part. Then his eyes stared straight at him and Harry had a small deja-vu. This was the way Jay had looked at him, when he said he knew Harry was not _their _Harry. Was Nathan going to show that he was just as observant?

His friend's eyes narrowed. "You borrowed Jay's broom." He stated thoughtfully. "Tell me truthfully: are you secretly training in order to be in the Quidditch Team next year?"

Thank Merlin! Nathan went for the most logical conclusion.

"Don't tell Jay!" Harry quickly said and Nathan's grin would've made Gilderoy Lockheart jealous. He slapped Harry on the shoulder and talked about how awesome it was that Harry was going for it. He stopped talking about it when the girls arrived, with Jay and his girlfriend in tow.

During the last part of the ride, Nathan send some secretive glances at Harry. Then the train rode into the Station and they had to say their goodbyes.

Harry was trying to find his way through the bustle of students and out of the train when an elbow connected hard with his abdomen. All the air left his lungs and he leaned protectively forward to hug his stomach. Couldn't people give him a break!

"Oh bugger! I'm so sorry!"

Well, that voice was familiar.

"Hello Malfoy," Harry gritted out as he stood straight up again. His stomach throbbed. In front of his stood Malfoy, looking rather disheveled and-dare he say it-concerned? Harry was starting to get worried about the fact that so far, this was the only look he'd received from this world's Malfoy.

"I didn't mean too. It's just so crowded."

As if to prove his point, a few students rushed by and pushed the older students aside.

"Anyway. Enjoy your holls, Potter." Malfoy now send him a small smile and Harry could feel the corners of his mouth responding. "Maybe I'll see you at Boxing Day."

With those parting words, Draco let the crowd lead him outside. Harry followed him more slowly and this time he was stopped just outside the train by Neville Longbottom.

"Took you long enough," commented the Boy-Who-Lived annoyed.

"I was not aware that you were waiting for me, Longbottom." responded Harry dryly. He was actually not really interested in what the other wanted. All the way in the train he had managed not to think of it, the distraction of the girls had helped, but now he could not avoid it anymore.

Today he would 'meet' his parents.

"So, going somewhere on Christmas?"

"Dunno."

"My aunt and I are going to the celebratory Quidditch Match in Russia." Neville bragged.

"Have fun."

"But, you know, maybe I can get an extra ticket for a friend of mine or something. I mean, I am the Boy-Who-Lived! Who is going to refuse a request from me?"

"That's very nice. I hope Ron appreciates it."

Neville finally frowned down at him. "I meant you." The boy said and Harry quirked up a brow. Since when were the two of them friends? Had this something to do with Neville knowing about his skill on a broom? What could he be up to?

"That is kind of you, but I think my-my parents already arranged something."

"Oh, that's too bad. But maybe be can meet up on another day or so?"

Harry shrugged. He was not really interested. "We shall see. I'll get back to you on that," were his words, before he started to walk away from the Gryffindor. He glanced around, looking for a man with his own messy black hair and a woman with red-golden curls.

Harry noticed the-prat-that-was-most-likely-his-brother and then kept him in sight. Sure enough he was right and the kid was faster in spotting 'their parents' amongst the gaggle of people on the station.

Harry watched him run to the pair and give them both a hug. They spoke briefly as Harry found himself glued to the spot, some yards away from them. Then James Harold Potter glanced up and looked around.

Hazel eyes met emerald en Harry's breath left him in one big sigh as his world around him faded away and nothing really mattered anymore.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**Jekyll & Juu: **Sorry people, apparently there was some miscommunication between the two of us. Jekyll thought that Juu had to finish this one up, and Juu thought that it was Jekyll's turn. Thus the delay. Fortunately, Jekyll had been inspired while waiting and wrote great parts of the following chapters, so you can expect them to be updated very soon!_


	25. Walk On

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_

Not Beta-Read

* * *

**25. Walk On**

_Home, hard to know what it is  
if you never had one  
Home, I can't say where it is  
but I know I'm going home_

* * *

Harry gasped for breath as he saw how Lily had noticed James gaze and now was trying to locate him. He clenched his fists together at his side when she noticed him and sent a beaming smile his way. She was so beautiful and vibrant. So unlike his aunt.

James raised his hand and motioned to Harry to come to them and before he could think about it, his feet were already leading him there. Each step felt heavy, as if his body was made of lead, but finally he found himself in front of his parents.

It was difficult though. These were his parents. He was finally meeting his flesh and blood parents. Not as spirits or in the reflection of an enchanted mirror. Not only as an untouchable face in a Firecall. They were real, he could touch them. He didn't get the chance to think more about the unreal situation, as his mother hugged him, proving how real her touch was.

"Oh sweetheart!" she cooed into his ear. "You look even more handsome than last time I saw you!"

She let go of him only to place her hands lovingly on his cheeks. Harry was mesmerized by her. Her hair was wild and the large red curls seemed to have a life of their own. Her face was heart-shaped and pale, almost like a doll's, but her eyes were a vibrant green just slightly lighter than his own.

She smiled and he noticed a small dimple in her left cheek. "I'm glad to see you are alright."

Those words caused a small stab of guilt to go through Harry. Her real son was far from alright. And that was it really. He was not their _real_ son. They were not his _real_ parents. _His_ parents died when he was barely one year old. He had no right to feel happy about meeting them, for they thought he was someone else than he really was.

He stepped away from her, trying to create distance, but seemed to step right into James' arms. The man gave him a short hug and then ruffled with a hand through his hair.

"Harry, did you finally manage to tame that hair of yours?" the man questioned with a laugh and then frowned as his fingers got tangled. "Guess not." He muttered as he pulled his hand back.

"You look different though."

Was it their parental senses that were telling them he was not really their son? But James wrapped an arm around Lily and grinned. "Time flies by so fast while the two of you are in school. Every time you're a bit older. It makes me sad."

Lily nudged his side. "You're only sad because it reminds you of how old you're getting, dearest husband of mine."

They started to walk to the Apparation point on the platform, with his brother almost running in front of the two with his luggage dragging perilous after him, while Harry trailed after them at a slower pace. His mother Apparated together with his brother-who's name he still didn't know, now he thought about it- while James took Harry.

The Apparation-point they arrived at was in the middle of a square in the magical community of Godric's Hollow.  
Harry had heard tales of it, of course, since it was the place where his real parents had died. His imaginations had always run wild when trying to imagine the house they had lived in, but somehow it always had turned out to be a copy of Privet Drive.

The truth was so much better. Godric's Hollow itself was a very small town. It had a village square with a church, pub, post office and some small stores and all the other buildings were quaint cottages.

The Potter residence was a cozy, on its own standing, cottage with a small garden and was located at the end of the main street. Harry was still trailing slowly after them, only this time it was more because he wanted to take in the surroundings.

The snow covered everything with a thin layer, making him briefly wonder if the mailbox was in fact red or purple, and the cold seeping into his shoes showed that he had forgotten to recast the spell.

Harry noticed a lot of different plants were growing in the small but cozy garden, though they were all withered at this time of year. He saw James briefly waving his wand at the front door to undo the magic that had been protecting the house while the family was away.

His brother ran towards the door and whirled around to face his parents. "Can I, dad?" he asked jumping up and down in anticipation.

"No you can't," James answered and jokingly pinched his son's nose. "You're a long way from being sixteen, meaning no magic outside of school."

The boy looked at his mother with big eyes that begged for sympathy. "Mom? Please?"

"You heard your father, no magic outside of school," Lily said smiling down at her son and unlocked the door using the well-known 'Alohomora' charm.

"I could have done that!" pouted the boy and handed his wand to his mother's outstretched hand.

"Sure dear, try to convince your Grandmother's portrait first. She's still a bit miffed about you turning her wig orange."

Harry didn't really pay attention to the good-natured bickering as he entered the house and dumped his trunk in the hallway next to an umbrella stand.

His brother stormed through the house as if he was a hurricane, and yelled a name that sounded like 'Steve'. Apparently it had been 'Stephen' and Stephen was a large gray cat that had hidden beneath the couch as soon as the boy ran in.

"Don't scare the cat like that, Jacob!" his father chastised.

_So, his name is Jacob! Finally I know it!_

"He'll come to you when he wants to."

"But I missed him," the boy pouted and Harry almost thought he looked cute. Almost.

Jacob jumped on the couch and could hardly wait until James sat down besides him to tell about how school had been so far. Lily went to the kitchen to get them some tea and Harry hung awkwardly near the doorway. It seemed wrong to just sit down as if he really belonged. He felt like a visitor.

Lily soon returned and pushed Harry into a comfortable chair and then placed a cup of tea in his hands. "I already put two lumps of sugar in it." she told him. Guess the way he liked his tea wasn't any different here.

"-and we had this huge snow fight!" Jacob was telling. He nearly pushed over his own tea as he waved madly with his arms.

"Did you win?" asked James amused.

Jacob glanced shortly in Harry's direction and then back to his father again. He shrugged. "Almost. But it was fun. Anyway, afterwards in the common room-"

Harry slowly blew on his tea and stared thoughtfully at Jacob. The boy hadn't said anything about the incident between the two of them. Was that to protect him? Or maybe he was thinking of using it as blackmail? Not that it would work against Harry anyway.

"How was your year?" Lily asked Harry, startling him out of his thoughts.

"-rather uneventful," Harry muttered. He was going to take a sip of the tea as he remembered something. "Uh, is it okay if I go meet a friend tomorrow. We already kinda had arranged something."

"Sure sweety."

Well, that was easy. Harry had expected somewhat of a struggle, since he had just returned 'home', but it seemed that Lily and James were rather lenient towards their children. Harry stayed in the chair and listened to his parents conversing with his brother.

Yet the feeling that it was all so unnatural kept bugging him. He wanted to get to know them, he really did. But did he have any right to?

Harry rubbed with a hand over his brow and stood up. "I'm going to my room." He muttered. Lily and James let him go with he message that they would call him when dinner was ready.

It took him a bit of searching to find the right bedroom. But when he did, he knew it was the right one because there was a photo of Wicked on the desk. Harry glanced around the room, briefly considering looking through the stuff, but he was too tired.

He let himself fall back on the bed. It was comfortably hard, though not as hard as the floorboards that had been his bed for ten years, and he almost bounced off it again. He placed his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. A poster of a barely dressed blond woman with a broomstick stared down at him and winked as she made a suggestive move.

He frowned. Did Lily really allow that? Petunia would have a fit if she'd ever discovered the porn magazines that Dudley hid amongst his schoolbooks, let alone that she would allow such a poster in his room.

Harry closed his eyes so the poster wouldn't distract him. He hoped that maybe tomorrow, with Dumbledore's help, he could find out what exactly had brought him to this world. How it actually had been possible. And most important of all: how to get back to his real world and friends.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	26. Don't Fear The Reaper

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By Juu & Jek_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**26. Don't Fear The Reaper**

_All our times have come  
Here but now they're gone  
Seasons don't fear the reaper  
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain_

* * *

Harry slept through dinner. Perhaps it had been because of the stress of meeting his parents face to face or maybe it was the long train ride, but he had felt totally exhausted. It was near midnight that he was awoken by his own growling stomach and he ventured downstairs in search of something to eat.

To his utter surprise, Lily was still awake and drinking tea in the kitchen.

"Um, hi," he greeted her awkwardly.

"Harry! You're finally awake!" Lily exclaimed and send him warm smile. "I tried to wake you, sweetheart, but you were dead to the world. I guessed you really needed your sleep."

"Um yeah, sorry," Harry mumbled. He now felt uncertain about entering the kitchen and fixing something to eat. Aunt Petunia would often smack his ear and drag him back to the cupboard under the stairs whenever she caught him trying to sneak some food into his belly.

So maybe it was because of this that he usually felt hesitant about taking food from the fridge with someone watching him. Even at the Weasley's place he had only dared to do so when Ron was with him. Though Molly Weasley was of the opinion that any person who entered the kitchen had to be fed immediately.

"Do you want me to warm something up for you?" Lily finally asked and resolved his small dilemma. Maybe it was the motherly nature to feed people?

"Yes please."

Lily laughed and stood up from her spot at the table. "You've suddenly become so polite!" She turned around before she could see Harry's sudden blush. He was glad though. He felt timid and awkward around the woman. Perhaps he could use it with his anger management, one thought of this Lily and he became a blushing, bumbling idiot.

Harry was ushered into a chair and as Lily cooked for him, she talked about how silent the house had been while he and his brother were away and how her work was going. Harry leaned with his head on his hand and stared at her as she bustled around the kitchen.

He liked watching her and hearing her talk-about how her co-worker never listened and how she always had to fix the problems-put a smile on his lips. She was unlike anything he had ever imagined, yet he liked it. The meal she cooked was finished real quickly and Harry ate it even faster.

Lily remarked upon his apparent love for this type of food when he polished the plate off and Harry, yet again, blushed. It was with a happy yet secretive mood that they both sneaked upstairs and each headed to their own chambers. Harry was out as a light again, the moment his head hit the pillow.

* * *

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Harry was standing in front of the hearth. He took a firm breath and threw some floo-powder before stepping hesitating into the hearth.

"Dumbledore ESTATE."

He fell out of the other hearth only to stop sprawled out onto the wooden floor of what appeared to be a reception room. Harry moaned as he got himself back on his feet and rubbed over a sore spot on his hip where it had met the floor. He stared disgruntled at the fluffy carpet directed right in front of the hearth, which he-with his fabulous luck-had missed completely.

"This once again proves that fate hates me," he muttered annoyed and turned to face the door expectantly as it started to open. It was however not Albus who entered through the door. An other elderly man, with a short gray beard seemed surprised at him being there and he fished a golden watch out of his robes.

He quickly checked it and then put it back. "You appear to be a bit early, mister Potter. However, it is a pleasure to meet you." He reached out his hand, which Harry quickly shook.

The Hufflepuff glanced over the man's shoulder. "Where is Dumbledore!" He asked the man who was probably one of the Headmaster's friends. '_Odd to let friends greet a guest_,' he thought briefly but then was shocked by the man's answer.

"I am Mister Dumbledore."

"No you're not." was Harry's first reaction, not realizing he might sound rather rude.

The old man raised a brow, in a way which was quite familiar with Albus. "I assure you, my name is Aberforth Dumbledore."

"Aber-? Oh! You're his younger brother, am I right? Where is Albus?"

"Albus?" the man seemed truly surprised at his request, but then he sighed deeply as if realizing something. "Ah, you don't know it yet. Follow me; I'll take you to him."

Harry followed him through the hallway to the open doors leading to the back of the relatively large house. "Is he in the garden then?"

"Yes, it's his favorite place."

They came to a spot with climbing plants and flowers. "Where is he?" Harry asked confused as he glanced around, expecting to see the old man sitting somewhere on an bench, basking in the sun or traipsing through the dandelions.

Aberforth smiled and pointed to a large Golden Willow. "He is near the trunk of the tree."

Harry blinked absolutely confused by the man. Was he slightly insane? Albus was definitely not there; all he could see was a stone slab sticking out from in between the green with… with writing on it. Apprehension crossed his features as he took a few steps and then knelt down to remove some plants from the stone. He slowly revealed the words written on it.

"**Here lies Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.**" He read out loud. **"Beloved brother of Aberforth Dumbledore and teacher of many. May death be only the beginning."**

Harry sat back on his hunches and then lost strength in his legs, making him drop gracelessly onto his butt.

"He's dead," he muttered listlessly as he felt Aberforth coming to stand beside him.

"Yes, he has been dead for four years now." The man started to explain calmly.

"It happened when he was experimenting with a slightly dark spell. It backfired on him and started to eat away his body, starting with his right hand. An old pupil of his, I believe he is a teacher of yours now, tried to save him. But it was to no avail. None of his potions could help Albus and he died only three days later, burned from the inside out."

"That sounds horrible."

"Yes, it was... terrible to see him waste away like that. But he knew that what he started could have complications and he took that choice." Aberforth sighed. "I can only try to think that he has lived a long and eventful life. He has meant a lot to people, though I think even more if he actually had continued being Headmaster of Hogwarts. Still it was his choice."

Harry glanced up at the man. "He resigned?"

"Yes, in 1980. "

"Why?"

"He was always vague about it, but I've always thought it had something to do with Voldemort's attack on poor Neville and his family. They survived the attack, of course. But Albus as Secret Keeper felt so responsible about it." He sighed. "Albus had more world changing ideals to prosecute... though it could just as well be excuses to just do what he pleased."

"Um, this might sound odd but do you perhaps know if he created a group of some sorts, called the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked hesitantly as he stood up. His legs seemed able again to carry his weight.

Albus Dumbledore was death. Gone. But he hadn't even been like his Albus, since he hadn't been the Headmaster either. But perhaps there were others he could turn to. There had to be someone?

Aberforth shook his head.

It was a dead end. He was back to nowhere.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	27. I'm Still Here

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**IMPORTANT NOTE:  
Juu has decided to stop writing on '**_**The Abuse'.**_** This is because she has started going to College again and the workload doesn't leave her with enough time to also write on fanfiction. Let's all wish her the best of luck!  
However, this leaves me on my own. I am still uncertain if I am going to continue it alone or search for another co-writer. I hope to tell you soon, though till then I'll try to write a bit on my own.

* * *

**

**27. I'm Still Here**

_I want a moment to be real,  
Wanna touch things I don't feel,  
Wanna hold on and feel I belong._

_And how can the world want me to change,  
They're the ones that stay the same.  
They don't know me,  
'Cause I'm not here.  


* * *

_

Harry stared over the breakfast table at Jacob. It was quite strange to realize that if his parents hadn't died that Halloween, he could've had a little brother. Somehow, with the attitude the kid showed towards him, that was not as happy a thought as he would have liked.

On the other hand, perhaps the kid's personality had been shaped by his surroundings and also by this world's Harry. Perhaps if that Harry hadn't been such a prick, their relationship would've been a lot better. You reap what you sow, right?

If Harry squinted, he could see a bit of his own features in the kid. Their hair was the same dark shade, though Jacob's had a bit of a wild curl in it, not unlike that of Lily's. His eyes were hazel like that of James, though the displeased scowl looked definitely the same as that of Aunt Petunia.

"Stop staring at me!"

Harry was pulled out of his musing thoughts by the snappish voice of the kid. Jacob had a foul look on his face as he stared back at Harry. The brat was awfully snappy. Perhaps he could use that as a nickname, just to annoy the kid?

"I'm not staring."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not." Harry couldn't ignore the childish urge to stick out his tongue. And Lily was just in time to see how Jacob grabbed a tomato and threw it at Harry's head. Harry leaned out of the way to avoid being hit by it, as Lily started to scold Jacob for wasting food.

Harry pulled an eyelid down and stuck his tongue out again before disappearing to the large garden. He couldn't help it; the brat brought out the inner child in him. He chuckled with sudden glee and raised his arms high above his head as he stretched.

The day before he'd been in a really depressed state. All day long he'd been thinking and pondering about what he should do, now that he couldn't depend on Dumbledore for fixing everything. He ended up with a huge headache, feeling even more down, and still without a clue about what the hell he should do.

So after dinner, when he watched how Lily washed the dishes while James dried them-both did it by hand-he finally decided to just try to enjoy the holidays and being with his family. When he returned to Hogwarts, he could talk it over with Morgane and figure things out.

That meant that today was for relaxation and what was better than to fly!

Only, he didn't posses a broom.

Harry took a wild guess and went for the garden shed. It was a good guess, since it seemed to hold several brooms. They were well-used, but not old, and Harry hoped his parents wouldn't mind him using one. It took a few rounds around the garden for him to get used to it and then he started to try out some of his old tricks.

Unbeknownst to him, Jacob had followed his brother after Lily's preaching. He'd been angry that once again Harry was able to put the blame on him. His mum never saw it when Harry pulled something, which made Jacob look bad. He'd been doing that ever since they were toddlers!

He was going to yell at the prick and tell him exactly what he thought about him, when he noticed that Harry was in the air. He stopped walking and thought for a brief moment that he was seeing things. Was that really his brother up there on a broomstick? But he was afraid of heights, wasn't he?

Not to mention that the incredible stunts the guy did up there, couldn't possibly be be done by his brother. He stared open-mouthed up as Harry swirled like a corkscrew downwards only to pull up into a steep climb.

Jacob quickly ran to the shed to retrieve his second broom (his first still being at Hogwarts). He placed a warming charm on himself before he mounted the broom and headed straight for his brother. Harry was just pulling out of a dive when he noticed Jacob coming.

"Oh Snappy, you here?" he asked as he pushed some hair out of his face. His cheeks were red from either exercise or cold.

Jacob frowned at the odd greeting. "Snappy?"

"Nevermind. What do you want?"

"I wanna know what you did to my real brother!" The boy answered and Harry nearly toppled off his broom with surprise.

"Wait? What?" He asked startled.

"What made you change? You were never this cool!" His brother asked as he hovered next to him and took in Harry's stance on the broom. It looked like Harry was used to flying, while Jacob knew that was quite impossible. When could he have practised all this?

The brief thought: _'Wait? I'm cool?'_, fluttered through Harry's brain, but before he could answer, the boy continued his confused rant.

"How is it possible you're flying? And flying good at that! Haven't you been scared of heights after falling off Nathan's broom?"

Jacob had been there when it had happened and although he had pretended to find it a good joke, he'd actually been concerned when Harry hadn't been able to get up from the ground by himself. And Jacob knew his brother well: he always learned from his mistakes by never doing it again. So how come he was up in the air again?

"My friends persuaded me to fly with them," Harry quickly ad-libbed. The kid didn't take his word for it though.

"Lier."

"Hey, if you don't want to believe me, it is your own choice." Harry answered and then shivered. At first he hadn't really felt the cold, but now the wind was sharply cold on his face. Jacob gave him a weird look.

"Why don't you have a warming spell on you?" The kid asked, ready to leave the subject about flying alone for the moment.

Harry frowned uncomprehending. "The under-age use of magic outside of school hours is illegal, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about? That's for Muggleborns."

"What? You mean we can actually do magic?"

"Blimey! In what world have you been living? Of course we can do magic? We live in a magical area; the Ministry cannot sense which person is casting which spells, unless they put tracking devises on our wands. And Pureblood law prevents them from being able too. You should know that!"

Harry started to feel the red hot trail of anger course through his body again. That was just not fair! How could people get away with this? When he had used a Patronus to protect his dumb nephew from Dementors that summer, he had to stand trial! And Pureblood kids could practically do what they wanted? How absolutely unfair!

Jacob had steered his broom away from his brother when he noticed the building anger on his face. "You never used to care before... why now?"

Harry didn't answer him as another thought occurred to him. "Do you even know Dudley?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind."

Apparently the Harry of this world also never had to deal with the Dursleys. He just had to have the perfect life didn't he? No Dursley's, he could use his magic without a care, he had a girlfriend(though Harry had screwed that one up quickly) and his family. If Harry hadn't already, he would have killed him just so he could take over his perfect little life.

"Lets race," he suddenly told Jacob and shot away.

The boy was quickly hot on his heels and just like the impromptu snow fight at school had started, they started small competitions. Who could race to the golden willow the fastest. Who could pick up the heavy plant pot without falling of the broom. Who could throw a garden gnome and hit the window of the house next door. Who could touch the six red things in the garden before the other could.

The small tasks left both of them laughing and in search for other odd objectives to do. When the dares became incredibly silly, like leapfrogging and doing a wheelbarrow over their brooms, they decided to stop. Laughing and pushing each other good-naturedly they went to the shed to put the brooms away.

When they walked back to the house, Jacob seemed to have forgotten all about his anger and ire and was instead talking excitedly about Christmas being the next day. He wondered if they would have to wait till the evening again before they could open the presents. That was apparently tradition in the Potter house.

Harry wanted to ask if any other family would be there, when an garden gnome looking for pay-back, tripped him. The Hufflepuff tried to catch his weight with his hands, but they slipped away on the cold snow. A sharp twinge shot through his right wrist.

"You okay?" asked Jacob and helped him up. He quickly scooped up some snow and threw it after the running gnome.

Harry rotated his hand a few times to check and winced. "I think it's just sprained."

They went inside where Jacob called loudly for Lily. When she arrived, he practically ordered her to heal Harry. His mother was rather baffled at his sudden protectiveness over his older brother, but didn't make a big deal about it and turned her attention to Harry's wrist.

"This will hurt a little bit," she warned him and Harry merely smiled.

"I'm sure it will."

She glanced shortly at his face and then did the charm. She was surprised that he didn't flinch or start to moan as if in pain. Harry could be a bit of a poseur when it came to being hurt.

Harry meanwhile frowned slightly; it didn't hurt at all, just tickled. He had been through worse with Skelegrow. He smiled at his mother but noticed a concerned look on her face. She reached out to his other arm and stared at the back of his left hand.

"Harry," her voice sounded grave. "What is this?"

Her voice tilted at the end of the sentence, almost as if she was afraid to find out. Harry glanced at his left hand. Before he had come to this place, he had only been in a few detentions with that Ministry appointed professor Umbridge, but the woman had made him use a strange quill which had left a gruesome yet vague imprint on his skin as reminder.

"Harry," her grip became stronger. "Tell me how you got this!"

"It is nothing."

She raised her voice. "Don't tell me this is nothing, Harry James Liir Potter. You've got writing scarred onto your skin!"

"It was an accident."

"It does not look like an accident. Try again."

Harry gave her a dark look that told her he wouldn't tell her no matter what. "I don't want to talk about it," he hissed at her, forgetting for the moment that he probably shouldn't talk like that to his mother. He probably would feel bad about his behaviour later on, but there was really no way how he could explain this.

Lily was speechless. Perhaps her son never had spoken to her with such ire in his voice or with such a dark look on his face. He could practically see her mentally backing away. When she spoke again, it was with a softer and gentile voice.

"You know that if you're in trouble, there is always someone you can talk to," she said.

_Yeah, and her name is Morgane._

Lily didn't mention it anymore, although Harry noticed she kept glancing worrying at him when he was in the same room. He wondered if he had hurt her feelings, but this was just something he couldn't share with her. He wished suddenly that the holidays were over already so he could go back to Hogwarts.

At least he knew that place.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**VGJekyll: **Hah, the first chapter I wrote all alone and I dislike it. It feels like there's something missing. I hate the ending and I might try to rewrite it a bit later on._


	28. Boxing Day

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension**  
_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**28. Boxing Day**

_It's just another day of our ordinary lives  
Nothing feels so wrong  
But nothing ever feels right  
What's this occasion for?  
Why do I feel so bored?_

* * *

Christmas was pleasant. They indeed had to wait till the evening until they could open their presents, but the gifts were expensive and useful. Harry realized when he received presents from Nathan, Jay and even Wicket, that he had forgotten to get them presents in return.

Perhaps he could make it up to them next Hogsmeade weekend?

After they had opened all their presents, he quickly wrote the three a small apology(with the excuse that he had some problems going on, which was in fact actually the truth) and included his Hogsmeade idea. He wondered if Wicket would actually be interested, with her being his-sorta-ex-girlfriend, but it would show her some goodwill and it didn't hurt to try. After all, she had send him a small gift too, right?

There was one thing that really stood out to him about that night. There had been two gifts that he and his brother were not allowed to open. When James had noticed the two small packages he had turned to Lily and asked her if she knew where they had come from.

When she had replied in the negative, James had picked them up and dropped them as soon as he read the tags. He had muttered that he recognized that handwriting and banished them with sudden fury into the fireplace. The packages shrieked as they burned and the apparently magical objects inside melted away.

James had walked irate out of the room and Lily followed him after a quick command to 'play with what they got'. Jacob and Harry had shared a confused look and then waited for them to come back. When they did, the evening had been pleasant again, though slightly tense.

The day after Christmas, Harry found himself aimlessly wandering around the crowd of people that had gathered at the Longbottom estate. Apparently, the Potters were related to the Longbottom's and thus it was compulsory to attend their annual Boxing Day celebration.

To keep in tradition, the party was also used to collect either money or goods to give to the less unfortunate. Something to which the Potters had donated a generous sum of money too. The collected money was kept inside a large bubble-like sphere in the centre of the dance floor.

Harry thought it was rather ridiculous. Was it to show off? Or try to make people add to the money by flaunting in their faces how others had been generous enough? Or maybe it was actually for the people who donated money to feel good about themselves?

And how much of that money would actually go to a good cause? What kind of cause would that be?

Harry snorted in his punch as he realized that he was actually making such a big deal out of it. This was again something that never would have bothered him before. If Hermione had been here, she would have kept talking about this, instead he made up for her not being there by thinking how she would rant about it.

He directed his attention to the people who were present. There were not many he recognized. The few who were around his age, he couldn't even remember attending Hogwarts. But perhaps he just didn't pay enough attention to others at school.

He did notice two missing faces. Perhaps professor Lupin wasn't invited. His old professor never looked like the type to attend parties and Harry figured that people wouldn't feel comfortable with a werewolf in their midst. Although, maybe his furry problem wasn't public knowledge in this dimension?

Another thing for Harry to find out; the list was getting longer with every passing day and he never seemed to find any answers either.

Sirius was not there either and that was something Harry didn't understand. Sirius was a Black, no matter that he was disinherited, right? And even then he was friends with Harry's father, so why was he not there? Harry would've loved to meet him, and see how much he was like the Sirius he had once known.

Harry took a quick sip of his punch, as the thought of his late Godfather brought up an unwanted memory. He shook his head. _'Don't think of that Harry,'_ he kept reminding himself. _'Think only happy thoughts.'_

He was abruptly pulled out of the depressing turn his mind had taken, when he bumped into a woman in a mauve dress. Though a head smaller than Harry, she still felt rather intimidating, and she send Harry a sharp look. Harry immediately apologized.

His sincere reaction seemed to placate her and she gave a small nod of appreciation in his direction.

"At ease, boy." She said and then raised a brow at the immediate scowl that appeared on Harry's face. Instead of offended turning away from him, she turned her back to her former conversation partners to gauge Harry's person. Harry felt uncomfortable under her dissecting gaze. She reminded him of someone, though of who he couldn't say at the moment.

"You dislike being called so, young man?" she questioned.

Harry shrugged and wrapped both hands around his now empty punch bowl. "Someone who hated me used to call me that." He answered truthfully. He was a bit uncertain how to deal with this woman and rather hoped she would turn back to talk with those other people again.

"Then it is my turn to apologise, young man. What is your name?"

"Harry Potter, ma'am."

"My names is Clarisia Simonoteph," she gave him an almost regal nod. "Though I suppose the name doesn't say much to a young person like you. I am known for my expertise is exotic herbs and potions. I am also part of the House of Donovan."

She smiled as she noticed that none of the titles and names she mentioned seemed to spark a reaction in Harry.

"My daughter is Chief Warlock in the Wizengamot." She added and Harry though he might have read something about it. He then realised she had said something about potions.

"Are you a Potions Master, um, Mistress? Something? I'm sorry, I don't really know the title..."

Oh Merlin, he was bumbling like an idiot!

Clarisia seemed to find him rather amusing, gauging from the smile on her lips. "Yes, mister Potter. I am considered to be a Potions Master, though my expertise lies in potions created with as main ingredient Asian and African herbs."

Harry took this chance to tell her about the potion he was supposed to make for Snape and was startled when she started to laugh loudly. The people around them looked equally startled from her to Harry and then started to whisper secretively with each other.

"Someone has been fooling you, my dear mister Potter." She said with a smile that lit up her face. "You are talking about a very rare and illegal love potion, discovered in 1907 and banned in 1911. The information about this potion is extremely restricted, so very few would know about it."

Harry's mouth nearly fell open with surprise. What the Hell did professor Snape think for pulling this stunt? Did he really hate teaching Harry _that_ much?

The Hufflepuff quickly made his excuses to the woman, saying that he thought it was rather stuffy inside, and escaped to the gardens. He was mad as hell and hoped that he could cool down outside. He hadn't expected that the younger wizards had actually collected themselves out there to relax.

Just a few steps away from the open doors, he was already accosted by one of his hosts.

"Oh, hello Harry, how are you? I knew you would come today!"

Neville Longbottom greeted him as if they were the closest of friends and Harry ignored the urge to turn around and head inside again. Longbottom was surrounded by his band of wanna-be friends. Harry recognized a few girls from Gryffindor, a boy from Ravenclaw, Ron, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and was that actually Draco Malfoy standing next to Daphne Greengrass?

"Yeah, well you know," Harry muttered. "Obligatory visit; can't deprive you of my amazing company."

Neville caught the sarcasm in that and let out a small bark-like laugh. "Shite Harry. You're become rather witty, haven't you?"

Neville wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him along to join the group. The Hufflepuff was seriously wondering when he actually had become Neville's friend, the guy sure was acting like they had been so for years.

"Harry here has the greatest nickname for You-Know-Who!" Neville stated and then looked expectingly at Harry.

Harry shrugged, not knowing what the boy wanted from him.

"I mean, what you said after Quid-um, that day." Neville explained and Harry shrugged again. He couldn't remember much of that, except that he had been rather pissed off that day. He noticed that of all the people, Ron was the only one who glanced suspicious from Harry back to Neville.

Neville didn't want to wait any more and said it himself. "He calls him Moldy Voldy!"

This caused the group to shudder and gasp. Then it was as if they all started to talk at the same time.

"Are you for real?"

"Moldy Voldy and the Death Eaters? It does sound like a band, doesn't it?'

"I suppose he sounds less scary like that."

Then suddenly Harry was listening to a discussion about current bands that were famous and Neville pulled him aside.

"So um, Harry." Neville started. "You wanna come over one of these days? I mean, I could help you practise Quidditch or something." Harry got the distinctive impression that Neville was rather new to asking people over for a visit. He was probably used to being begged to spend his precious time with one of the lucky people of his entourage.

Ron had followed them, scared as he seemed to be about loosing his best friend position, and shouldered Harry to the side. He glowered at Harry and then looked incredulous at Neville.

"Do I hear this right? You want to invite that douche bag?" the redhead asked and motioned shortly at Harry. "That guy is a tosser! Everyone at school hates his guts."

Neville merely glared annoyed at the interruption and suddenly Harry was pushed even more to the side, although more gently, by none other than Draco Malfoy. The blond had been rather silent though it all and Harry had nearly forgotten that he had been there too.

"Sounds like you're jealous, Weasley," Draco said with a cocky grin. His words had a certain sting to them, which reminded Harry of home. It shouldn't have made him feel so happy.

The words hit target and Ron turned his attention to the Slytherin. "Shut up, Malfoy. This has nothing to do with you!"

"I beg to differ," answered Draco. "For what is a piss poor worm like you doing here? Is your family actually able to donate money? Or are you here hoping that some of it goes to support yours?"

Ron clenched his fists together and was about to attack Draco when Neville placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, you deserved that." He tried to placate him. "Now don't turn this into a big mess."

"Yes, Weasley. It's rather unbecoming for one to act so possessive of their supposed best mate's attention. One might start to think that you see yourself as more than that." This resulted in a verbal fight in which the two did no more than trade insults, with Neville trying to calm things down.

Harry listened astonished and slightly charmed. This was a side of Draco that Harry had always seen and despised, yet this time the scorn and obvious disdain was not aimed to hurt Harry. Instead it was to protect Harry from Ron. It was an unnatural occurrence and Harry felt a strange, uncomfortable clenching in the pit of his stomach at the duality of the situation.

Neville was also a surprise. So far Harry hadn't a good impression of him. He had seemed stuck-up and condescending. Nothing like the Neville he had know. Yet, he now was showing a bit more of that peace-loving side. Harry thought he might not be so bad.

Ron who had noticed Harry's glassy look tried one last time. "Don't think you're so special, Potter! You're a gormless git! You're a screw up who will never get anywhere!"

Before he knew it, both Neville as Draco were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of Harry and glared at Ron and told him to 'stuff it and go away'. Then they shared an astonished look when realizing they both were on the same line for a change.

Neville send Draco a strange look as Ron skulked away. He told Harry not to mind whatever Ron said, which Harry assured him he didn't, and to come on the first of January. He turned to Draco and shrugged.

"I suppose you're invited too, Malfoy."

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**VGJekyll: **_Anyone know a better line to end this chapter with? Cause I don't. Ive been struggling with this for a while and now I'm throwing in the towel.  
Besides that, Error Type 2 is annoying but since I was able to upload this chapter: you can actually work around it._


	29. This Is Not Real

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**29. This Is Not Real**

_This is not real, will not last, does not feel  
Like the touch of a glorious life  
This is the worst kind of wasted  
'Cause now you're standing here_

* * *

Harry was lying on his bed with Stephen the cat sleeping contently on his stomach. The grey tom had taken a liking to him, which had greatly surprised his family, as the cat apparently usually refused to get near Harry. He petted it absent-mindedly and smiled as he could feel the purr it drew from the animal vibrate through his stomach.

The smile disappeared as he once again noticed the poster above his bed. The half-naked blonde winked down at him and Harry groaning put an arm over his eyes. There was something about her that made him feel ashamed of having her there. Perhaps the Harry of this world didn't think it odd, yet Harry couldn't get used to the feeling of being watched.

It didn't matter that she was hot. Or maybe that made it even harder to ignore her, not to mention the fact that she really shouldn't straddle a broom like that. Well, he could do magic, right? He was sure he'd heard James mention something about it to Jacob. And still Jacob had done it in the garden without getting in trouble.

He was about to grab his wand when he hesitated. He could do it the easy way, then again, he could also try something else. He placed the wand next to him again and carefully raised his hand. If this went wrong, he would be able to quickly grab the wand.

Now what had Morgane said? Calming breaths. Lass time he'd tried to stare a candle into submission, yet that hadn't worked that well. So what about channelling his emotion. Like with his hand. It could work right? He pointed his hand up and tried to think of how much he wanted the poster to burn away in front of his eyes.

He could see a glint near his fingertips and then everything happened extremely fast. Before he knew it the poster of the girl was eaten away by smouldering flames and he suddenly felt several claws dig into his stomach. The fire spread further out on the ceiling.

And as Stephen fled from the bed, Harry quickly dove for his wand and send a spray of water upwards. Only to get drenched by it when it cascaded down on him again.

It was not long after that his brother came looking for him. Stephen fled the room as soon as the door was opened and he found Harry sitting baffled and wet on top of his bed with a large black burned smudge above him on the ceiling. Jacob, still with the doorknob in his hand glanced from the ceiling to Harry and back again.

"Do I wanna know?" he asked hesitantly.

Harry shook his head, sending sprays of water ever further around his room. "Not really," he answered and sneezed. Jacob shrugged after a short moment. "You'd better change. We're leaving for the Alley in half an hour."

He then smirked. "And you better fix that ceiling or mum's gonna be soooo mad at you!"

* * *

Half an hour later, Harry found himself with his parents and brother on his way to Diagon Alley. On his question if there were no other places they could go to, Lily had responded that Diagon Alley was the largest magical shopping district in Britain. There were of course a few others, but most of them lacked the diversity that was to be found in the Alley.

Harry personally would have enjoyed experiencing another site, but there was no way he could explain that to her. Apparently they were also to split up. Jacob was going with James, while Lily went with Harry. Harry had no idea why, but he couldn't care less actually; he now had Lily on his own.

Diagon Alley looked very much like he remembered from his yearly visits there to buy his textbooks and other school applies. There were a few major differences though. The first thing was the atmosphere. There were less people present than he had expected, though maybe that was because it was just after Christmas.

The whole place was also decorated with fake snow, that-he found out as he slid a finger through a patch-still felt cool to the touch. And there was mistletoe to be found above every doorway. He made a mental note to be extra careful when entering a shop.

The people also didn't stare at him. Now that was a small blessing. For once he could just shop without having people whispering to each other, or walking closely behind him only to find out what he bought and to copy him. He never had understood about that. Why did they do that?

It was when Harry was distracted by a new game in a window, when he heard Lily gasp and mutter under her breath.

It sounded a lot like '_How disgusting_.'

Harry glanced around to find out what she had been talking about, but couldn't see anything special in the street. A woman with a little pig-tailed girl, two wizards that were window shopping-was that a Spitfire broom?-a group consisting of five people just some years older than Harry himself.

He was about to ask Lily what she meant when he noticed the mother holding her hands in front of the pig-tailed girl's eyes. She had the same look on her face as Lily and stared disgusted at the two wizards, who first had been walking hand in hand. One was now giving the other a chaste kiss on the cheek and they laughed, their attention only on each other.

Harry blinked and glanced at his mother again. She had the most foul look on her face as she stared at the men, and Harry noticed how much she now resembled aunt Petunia. An aunt Petunia that looked down at Harry who once again had not done one of his chores right.

It was all too clear to him: his mother was homophobic.

He bit his lip as she muttered another thing of which Harry was glad the wizards were too far away of to hear. He had never really cared much about such things. People were free to love who they liked right? But apparently Lily was of another opinion.

Harry wondered if it was also the rest of his family. Maybe even most of the Wizarding world? The pureblood families probably would disapprove of it as gay couples couldn't conceive heirs. Which seemed rather important to them.

He'd been so deeply in thought that he just followed Lily as she entered a shop and he bumped against her back. She turned around and as he was just getting his bearings, she leaned forwards and planted a kiss on his cheek. She smiled at his baffled expression and pointed upwards to the mistletoe.

"I can't believe how old you are getting!" She said as they walked further into the store. "I always was able to reach your forehead." She complained with a small smile.

Harry shrugged. His cheek still felt warm from her lips. "You're just too little." He teased her back, but he couldn't help but feel slightly tense. The shopping trip continued with the same careless feeling, yet something kept nagging in the back of Harry's mind. There was a crack in the utopian image he had of his family.

* * *

Later that day during dinner Harry was playing with food as he tried to decide how to broach the subject of Sirius. He really wanted to know what was going on. But when he did-and it was the innocent question '_Where does Sirius live_?'-all hell broke loose.

For a moment, a grim silence settled over the dinner table and then James jumped up. He yelled angry at Harry, his face twisted with fury, and Harry could do nothing but stare at the unexpected fearsome sight of his father screaming at him. It reminded him of Christmas.

This was not his father. The man now standing in front of him-arms wide and angry, expression twisted with fury-this was what had become of the boy that had bullied Snape for his entertainment.

Harry tried to speak up and received more of James' ire. The man threw a plate against the wall and send Harry to his room. Which he did without complaint.

He was a confused, but figured something must have really gone wrong between the two Marauders. Something unspeakable. What did the Sirius of this world do to James? Maybe in this world he was working for Voldemort? What other explanation could there be for the obvious hate? It had to be something horrible like that!

Pondering on that, and trying to ignore the stain above his bed, he was startled when someone knocked sotly on his door. It was Jacob, who sneaked in with a plate of food. Apparently he had noticed that Harry hadn't been able to eat a lot.

"You're dumb," was the first thing that left his mouth as he settled down besides Harry. Harry raised a brow at that statement and took the plate from him. He placed it besides him on the bedside table.

"What makes you say that?"

"You know Sirius is a taboo subject! Why the hell did you bring him up?"

Harry shrugged. "It's just, I can't seem to remember much about him or Remus. It's all vague, as if someone put a memory charm on me," he quickly invented. "Don't remember what happened to Peter Pettigrew either."

"Really? Who would do such a thing?" Jacob asked suspicious. Harry shrugged again and his brother sighed and started to explain.

Peter died during school; he was attacked by a Basilisk during their parent's 6th year. After Harry was born, Sirius was named Harry's godfather and Remus was Jacob's, but only a few months ago, Sirius started to act strangely and then suddenly announced he was dating Remus.

"And you know what our parents are like when it comes to-um-that." Jacob said.

Harry gave a small nod, since he remembered the shoppingtrip of that morning.

"So mum and dad told us to never speak about them again and not to get in touch. They were basically cast out of our family and lives." Jacob concluded his tale.

Harry was silent for a moment. "And what do you think of that?"

Jacob shrugged. "Honestly? I always thought it was disgusting to love another man, I mean, that is what mum and dad taught us, so it had to be true right. But I have this friend at school, she's a girl, and she and I had this big discussion about it and then she blurted out that she liked girls in the middle of the common room!"

Jacob shrugged again. He seemed a bit uncomfortable about admitting it.

"After that some people started to bully her and she was slowly turning into an outcast. I couldn't stand for it! That is why I had that fight, you remember? Snape was so mad that one of his snakes had been beaten into a pulp, though somehow he never found out it had been me. So after that I started to think that, you know, maybe mum and dad are wrong. I'll never say it to their faces though."

He gave Harry a sharp look. "And you'd better not tell them either!"

The perfect picture of his parents was shattered. They were not a great as he thought they'd be, while Jacob who he had considered an annoying brat actually wasn't that bad. He was actually someone to be proud of. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out and giving Jacob a short, brotherly hug.

"I'm proud of you." he simply said.

"What for?" asked Jacob with a frown.

"For being mature enough to make your own decisions and opinions. I know enough kids who simply believe all they are said without even thinking about it."

Harry didn't know what to think any more. Nothing was like he thought it would be.

At night Harry laid down on Other Harry's bed again. He couldn't see it as his. The family neither. He had such a pure image of his parents, perhaps too perfect. And not it was broken to pieces.

Above his head was a large gaping black splotch.

* * *

**To Be Continued  
**

**_Jekyll:_ **_Some friends of mine had/have posters hanging on the ceiling above their bed. It creeps me out to have someone stare down at me, even when it's only a poster. Besides that, I am amazed that people still like the story, for I keep feeling like things don't add up. Besides that, I've had someone talking into me that I need to stop writing fanfition and start working on original work. It makes me feel conflicted._


	30. Out There

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**30. ****Out there**

_Cause you're not in my world to ease my worries  
And you can't be the one I turn to  
Who's gonna watch over me if not you?  
Will your memory live on inside me?_

* * *

When it was time to go back to Hogwarts again, Harry couldn't be happier.

He hadn't spend the first day of the year with Neville, as the boy had asked, or rather ordered-him too. Instead he had excused himself under the pretext of being ill. He had also received a worried letter from Draco asking if he were all right and if the Slytherin could visit him.

Though the Draco of this world wasn't a prick, like the one he had known, and truly seemed to care about his well-being, for whatever reason he had; Harry had send a refusal. He still felt uncertain about him and couldn't figure out what the guy actually wanted from him.

Neville he could somehow understand. The Gryffindor had seen him do things that were out of character and was intrigued. It was comparable with how the Neville of his world could spend hours staring at a flesh eating plant in the hopes of seeing it snap a fly out of the air. He simply wanted to figure out what made Harry tick.

But Draco was an uncertainty. He hadn't been friends with the Harry of this world. At least, as far as Harry knew. And he just didn't get the reason why the guy was suddenly reaching out for his friendship. If that was what he wanted. It could just as well be that Draco desired something that this world's Harry had stolen from him. Or maybe he also had seen him fly? Who knew.

Besides faking illness to his 'friends', he'd tried to avoid conflict with his parents. He found himself spending a lot of time with his little brother who was, by lack of better words, awesome. The kid had his own opinion on everything and Harry found he quite enjoyed provoking him into discussions. Hermione would have adored Jacob. He was sure of it.

He'd also made a few good memories with his parents. James had acted quite normal the day after his outburst and Harry had a few conversations with him. Though awkward, as they didn't seem to have a lot in common, he was still happy with that. Specially when he got James to talk about memories from Harry and Jacob's childhood.

Though Harry hadn't experienced it himself, he could pretend they had.

And he had helped Lily with rearranging the books in their small library. It consisted of several bookcases that were crammed in the loft. The two of them had been arranging them by name, when they found a few old photo books. They had spend the rest of the day looking through them.

Nevertheless, Harry couldn't shake that feeling of wrongness. Of how it wasn't supposed to be for him. About how they weren't picture perfect as he had expected them to be. And it made his sleep that much unrestful. Many nights Harry woke up with sweat covering his body and he found his lower lip bitten raw for trying to keep himself from screaming out.

* * *

And now he was sitting in the Great Hall of Hogwarts again, hoping that dinner would be over soon so he could go to Morgane. He'd missed her and had a lot to talk about. It was strange, he reflected. She seemed to have taken up the place of both Sirius and Dumbledore in his life and had become his only confidant in this violently different dimension.

Harry sighed and poked with a spoon in his quivering pudding. He'd lost much of his appetite lately. It was strange, for he'd never had such a problem before. When he had been a child food was scarce so he was happy for whatever he could salvage. And then when he had first come to Hogwarts, he'd never failed to fill up his plate as full as Ron's.

He pushed the pudding away from him, glanced up and blinked startled as he saw Neville staring at him. It seemed like the boy had been trying to get his attention for a while, and now that he had it, Neville waved regally at him.

The Gryffindors around him craned their necks trying to find out who he had waved at and were startled to find out it was drop-out Harry. Harry simply tried to ignore it, which caused Neville to frown annoyed. This was when Ron, who had been sitting a few seats away from Neville said something that caused the Boy-Who-Lived to jump up and before anyone could stop it, they were in a loud shouting match.

Harry sighed again and stood up. He'd stayed long enough and had noticed some others leaving. Beside that, he knew the argument to be about him and he really didn't want the attention on him right now. Besides that, he really needed to talk to Morgane.

The closer he got to where Morgane's statue resided, the happier he felt and the faster his legs seemed to carry him. He wanted to tell her about the stain on his ceiling. Maybe it had been a fail, but it was still progress from setting the corridor on fire.

He also needed to talk to her about his parents. He was really happy to finally have met them, to have felt Lily's touch, to see James wink at him. But he hadn't been expecting to also see their negative side so fast. It was as if he had been slapped in the face. Morgane would love that comparison.

He turned the corridor, vaguely nodding at the portrait of the Einstein look-a-like before halting in his step. At the end of the corridor was an empty spot where Morgane's statue was supposed to be.

_"Oh you again?"_a portrait of a man with sideburns said grouching. Harry vaguely remembered him being called Hengist by the other portraits.

"Where is Morgane?"

The painting gave him an odd look. _"Who?"_

"The statue! Morgane?"

"_There has never been a statue here. Only us portraits."_

"Then who have I been talking to all those times I came here?" Harry demanded to know.

Hengist seemed to think about it and then shrugged as he couldn't find an answer. _"Beats me, Lad. For all I know it could be yourself. The few times I saw you, you were practising being a pyromaniac."_

Harry stared stunned at him and the portrait rolled his eyes. _"It's a Muggle word, kid. Pyromaniacs enjoy setting things on fire. Don't you kids learn anything?"_

"I know what a pyromaniac is." Harry told him irritated.

"_Then why did you stare like a gobless flobberworm at me!"_

"Because-argh, forget it!" He turned his back to the painting and walked to where Morgane had stood. He crouched down and glanced around. There had to be a clue left of Morgane or that she actually had been there. She couldn't have been a figment of his imagination!

His hand slowly crept up to his cheek, remembering the white-hot sting her hand had left there. She had been real. But where was she now? The hand travelled up to rub his brow and he wished he knew spells to locate people. Or objects. Could he use a summoning charm on her? Since technically she was an object. An animate object, but an object nevertheless.

On the other hand, if it worked on her, he could expect a 6 foot tall and quite heavy statue to come straight at him. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Harry let his breath leave his lungs in a defeated sigh and toppled from the crouch onto his knees. He twisted around and slumped against the wall. The back of his head met the wall and he closed his eyes. To the onlooker he was the perfect picture of a man defeated.

"Why is my life so screwed up?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**VGJekyll: **__In answer to Harry's last question: "Because I am writing this story and I'm a horrible, horrible person."_

Thanks for all the reviews, they were all very supportive and well, I dunno what to say actually. But thanks and I will try to continue this to the very best I can! I was also requested to add the band/singer names to the titles. They will be below the chapter.  
And since I couldn't add this quote in the chapter, I'll say it here:

'I hang my head and advertise: a soul for sale or rent.'

DJ ENCORE – OUT THERE


	31. Tomorrow

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

* * *

**31. Tomorrow**

_I'm not afraid of tomorrow  
I'm only scared of myself  
It feels like my insides are on fire  
And I'm looking through the eyes of someone else_

* * *

The following day was hard to get through. Christmas Holidays already seemed it had been months ago, as the teachers wasted no time in assigning or demanding projects to be turned in.

It was also after their first Defence lesson of the year that Professor Rosier inquired if Harry was done with his paper. He seemed pleasantly surprise to hear it was and Harry promised to turn it in later that day. Harry would have thought of bringing it with him to class, if it wasn't for the fact that he had overslept that morning.

During the other classes, he found he couldn't really focus on anything. His mind kept wandering off topic and left him in a daze all throughout the day. He'd received a lot of answers that holiday and some he didn't want to know. Morgane left him. His parents were not like he thought they should be. He still didn't know what exactly had caused him to get to this place, nor how he could go home.

Did he actually want still to go home? Well, yeah he missed his friends. On the other hand, he would also miss the friends he made here. He would miss his brother. And all this shit about his elemental power. How was he suppose to deal with that without Morgane? There was no one he could talk to without sounding crazy. What was he to do?  
It was because of this absent-mindedness, that he made a fool of himself when he was asked a question during Charms. The class thought it was hilarious and Harry couldn't shake the feeling that they all seemed relieved, because to them it looked like he was acting like his 'normal' self again.

In between walking from the Charms classroom to Care of Magical Creatures, which apparently this world's Harry hadn't dropped after receiving his owls, he was also stopped by Draco Malfoy. Harry hadn't been prepared to meet him and Neville on New Years day, and neither was he now.

The Slytherin smiled at him and tapped his shoulder, pulling Harry out of his dazed thoughts only to ponder if that was really a smile he saw. Harry shook his head to clear it a bit and received an odd look from Draco.

"I can see that besides your illness, your holidays were fine," Draco commented.

Harry blinked and then frowned confused as Draco briefly motioned at his hands. Harry looked down. There was nothing wrong with his hands. "What do you mean?"

Draco smiled, the brilliant expression on his face was really quite different from the norm. "You didn't feel the need to hit an innocent wall this time. Therefore it must have been good," he explained his statement, as if it were so obvious that he didn't think he'd actually needed to explain.

"Ah-uh-yeah." Harry stuttered and Draco seemed puzzled at his strange reaction. "You do seem to have lost great part of your vocabulary. Are you still ill?" When he seemed to raise his hand to meet Harry's forehead, probably to gauge his temperature, Harry swiftly dodged to avoid the touch.

"I'm fine." he quickly said. "Perfectly fine. Couldn't be better."

The blond held his hand awkwardly in the air and then dropped it at his side. His grey eyes stared scrutinising at him. "Okay then," he finally said. "I suppose we'll see each other around then. Guess it's too bad that I dropped Creatures this year, right?"

"Um yeah. See ya." Harry agreed, though he doubted it would ever be more than a quick talk in the hallway when they passed each other in the future. He would hardly meet the guy, since he was in another house, and they also didn't seem to share many classes. It also made him a bit appreciative of being in Hufflepuff, for that also meant he seldom had to deal with Neville.

It was curious though, that Draco actually knew what Harry's next class was.

Care of Magical Creatures was rather uneventful. Hagrid had a small herd, if you could call a dozen a herd, of goat-like creatures. Their name had something with an X in it and all Harry later could remember was that they appeared to have seven legs each and antlers instead of horns.

Later that day, when Harry was rummaging through his trunk, a brown owl flew in. He thought it strange that it didn't enter during breakfast that morning like the other owls. It landed on the end of his poster bed and stuck out its leg.

It had a tiny rolled up paper attached to it's leg and Harry frowned confused as he took it and rolled it open. The small piece of paper only held an enigmatic message that he didn't really understand, though it was addressed to him.

* * *

_**Harry Potter,**_

**_We have not heard of you in a while. Do you need more?_  
_Or is Snape providing you with it_?**

* * *

It was not signed and Harry couldn't recognize the cursive writing.

He turned the paper around to see if there was maybe more on the other side, but it was empty. He glanced at the owl. "Do you know what this is about?" he asked the owl. It blinked owlish at him and ruffled its feathers as it settled down to wait. Apparently it wouldn't leave without a reply.

Okay, so someone asked him if he needed more of something. Harry thought for a moment and let his Slytherin side surface. He scribbled on the back of the paper that _'Yes he needed more'_. He tried to keep it short and just as enigmatic as the message was.

He tied it to the owls leg, late in realizing he should probably have offered it a snack, but it flew up and was through the open window before he could attend to that. He stared thoughtfully after it. No matter the fact that he didn't know of who it was and what it was about. The chance was big that he would received said thing soon and what it was he would find out by then.

Talk about Snape, he had to confront that bigot about that stupid potion of his!

After he had heard from Mrs. Simonoteph about it being illegal, he had thought up several satisfying situations in which he burst into the Potions classroom and told Snape straight in the face to stuff it. The emotions involved with these daydreams had turned Lily's begonia bush into ashes. He had a hard time explaining that one to her.

Harry sat down on the edge of his bed and leaned back with his arms under his head as he reminisced about of of his favourite scenario's.

* * *

_In that one he has just stormed into the Potions classroom, startling the class into utter silence as he stalks to Snape and points dramatically at his large nose._

_"You Slimey git,' he proclaims, knowing that he can only get away with calling the man that in his daydreams. "The potion you mentioned is a Love potion!" He yells angry in the Potions master's face. "A love potion that is quite illegal. 'Lovers are lunatics'. You must think I am one too! Think that even if I found out and I tried to brew it, you could still call it a failure since it's illegal. You bastard!"_

_Snape stares for a long moment gob smacked at him and then starts to smirk. "Very good, Mr Potter. You actually managed to research something. I'm sure it was an enlightening experience. Though I'll take 10 points for using foul language." he crosses his arms and leans backing his chair. "Very well, I will give you a second chance."_

_Merlin, even in his imagination Snape is a snarky git. There's probably no universe in existence in which he is any different._

_Harry copies his stance and smirks in returns. "A new potion plus 30 points to my house if I get it right." He negotiates._

_Snape appears surprised by his nerve, but then glares._

_"15 points."_

_"25!"_

_"Don't push your luck, Potter! 20 points and I expect an outstanding potion!"_

_"Deal."_

_Snape smirks evilly. "Polyjuice potion, mister Potter. Not quite illegal to brew, but you need permission to brew such a potion, which I in fact have. And I do hope you know it by heart, for the receipt is only to be found in the restricted section of the library, and I'm not giving you permission to enter it."_

_"That's quite all right, sir," Harry answers. "I do hope I am allowed to use ingredients, like the boomslang skin, from your storage room. I'm quite sure you're not going to let me keep the finished potion. So, why should I use my money to buy ingredients?"_

_The class sucks in their breath and stare wide-eyed at the display in front of them. The two in question stare each other down. Finally an amused smirk appears on Snape's face. He thinks that Harry is bluffing._

_"Naturally. You have a week Potter."_

_"It takes a full month to brew it, as I'm sure you know sir."_

_Snape seems amused and annoyed at the same time. He is probably wondering how Harry knows about the boomslang skin and the time it takes to make the potion. Perhaps he is even regretting giving this potion and not an even rarer one._

_"A month then."_

_Harry smirks, knowing how surprised the git will be when-_

* * *

The door opened and Harry sat startled up, daydream totally wiped out of his mind. In the door opening stood Nathan and for a moment the two of them merely stared at each other. Then Nathan started to fidget and glanced over his shoulder before taking a step inside the dorms.

He walked up to Harry who kept seated on his bed and then stood wringing his hands in front of him. He cleared his throat.

"Listen Harry, I gotta tell you this," he started. "I didn't know how to tell you, but I'm feeling awfully guilty and you're my best friend and you deserve to know and I really hope you're not mad at me. Please don't be mad! I didn't meant for it to happen! Honestly! You have to believe me!"

Harry let the waterfall of words flow over him, but Nathan's behaviour was making him more anxious with every word.

"And I don't know. It's just, you know!"

"Spit it out already!" Harry finally said as he jumped up.

Nathan quickly took a step away from him, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture to pacify him. "I'm dating Wicked!" he blurted out. He stared terrified at Harry's face, waiting for him to start yelling at him, but Harry was stunned speechless.

Of all the things he had expected to hear, this was not it. He sat down on the bed again. "Oh," was all he could say and Nathan took that as a sign to start explaining.

"We met during Christmas, you know, and I realized she's really pretty, and nice and she got this great sense of humour, but I guess you already knew that, and when we were dancing I kicked her ankle, but she didn't get angry and instead she just started to laugh. And her laugh tingles, you know? But I had drunk too much eggnog and I suddenly just heard myself say that, and she stopped laughing and next thing I know, we're kissing under the mistletoe! And I liked it, and she too, so she said we should start dating. Oh, please don't be angry!"

"It's okay."

"I mean I-what?"

"It's okay. I think it's actually quite, um, good that you're dating. You guys fit each other," Harry didn't know that for sure, since he hardly knew Wicked, but Nathan needed to hear the reassuring words.

"You're for real?" Nathan asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, after all: were not dating any more. She's free to be with whoever she likes. Even if it's my best friend."

Nathan was silent for a moment and then gave him a hesitant smile. "I'm still your best friend?"

Harry rolled his eyes, stood up and gave the guy a short, manly hug. He seemed to need it. When he let go, Nathan stumbled backwards and let himself fall back on the other bed. A loud moan left his mouth as he hid his face behinds his arm

"Merlin, that was awful," he muttered, the stress and anxiety finally leaving his body. "Never again!"

"Tell me about it," muttered Harry. "I was thinking you were going to tell me something terrible."

_Like knowing certain things about Harry._

"Like what?"

"Like... like you being the heir of Slytherin or something."

"Oh, but I am," Nathan exclaimed, his normal happy mood returned. "And I'm aiming for world domination!"

"You and your army of Teletubbies?" Harry asked with a grin.

"... what are Teletubbies?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**VGJekyll: **_The Snape day-dream was actually a scene I had written long ago, but couldn't use for real any more. I also wanted the Wicket & Nathan thing later, but thought it fit here anyway. The Teletubbies did not exist back then(_Teletubbies first aired on 31 March 1997_), but who cares! Whose Line Is It Anyway & Wayne Brady can be blamed for the last sentences/_

SR-71 - TOMORROW


	32. Better Make it Through Today

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta-Read

**32. Better Make it Through Today**

_I've had my share of troubles_  
_It's nothing new to me  
When I look around me_  
_All I see is misery_

_Life is what you make it_  
_At least that's what the people say_  
_And if we can't make it through tomorrow_  
_We'd better make it through today_

* * *

A few days had passed and Harry felt none the wiser. Not much had changed for him, except for a certain owl that had brought him a small flagon with an amber coloured liquid in it. The interesting thing was that there was apparently a notice-me-not charm on it, that activated as soon as Harry had taken it off the owl's leg.

He'd had a difficult time with finding it afterwards.

When he took the cap off and took a careful sniff, he realized it was odourless, which probably took out many potions which it could be, but since he never really was all that great at Potions, nor tried to remember all the potions by name and colour, unlike Hermione did, he was next to nowhere with finding out what it could be.

He briefly considered just taking a sip of it, but that would be stupid as it just as well could be a poison. Which brought out the question who the Harry Potter of this world could possibly want to kill. But no, the question in the letter was if he wanted more of it.

Which meant that AU Harry had it before, and as far as he knew no one had died recently before he'd arrived here. Maybe it was a slow working poison then? Maybe someone was slowly growing ill with no explanation why. Or it might not even be meant to use on a human.

Getting nowhere with this, Harry placed the flagon inside a small bag in a corner of his trunk, making a mental note to go to the library so search for amber potions and also write a letter to Mrs. Simonoteph. Maybe she could help. He could even put a bit of the potion in another container and send it to her for testing.

* * *

The library seemed like a safe place to retire to nowadays. Since Morgane was gone, he'd started to hit the books again, paying more attention to recent history. He'd felt a bit ashamed when he thought it, but he realized that his acquaintance with Morgane might indirectly have been the reason why he hadn't been trying to find out more about this world.

Come to think of it, he had been rather spoiled and never during his Hogwarts time had he really needed to be self-sufficient. It was a new thing for him; he'd always had someone to lead him. Hermione had done the research. Ron was all about tactics and Harry... well, he'd just done what he thought was best.

He'd never acquired Hermione's taste for studying either, even though she still had tried to instil in in them that studying could be fun. Harry still begged to differ. He had to beat his mind into being disciplined about it when it would rather wander off to do something else. But now he simply had no other choice.

* * *

The true moment of change came during breakfast. The air in the Great Hall was filled with owls, neatly ducking and avoiding each other in order to deliver their mail and parcels to the right people. Harry actually didn't get any mail, but snatched the newspaper away from Nathan before he could read it.

The blond half heartedly complained, but Harry only had to grin and mention world domination, to get the other to blush and put his attention on other things. It seemed that his friend still felt bad about 'stealing' his ex-girlfriend.

Of course he didn't know that Harry had already met Wicket in the hallways and congratulated her on picking Nathan as her new boy-toy. The atmosphere between them hadn't been awkward at all, but he was not going to mention that to Nathan. This too good to hold it over him.

The grin slid off his face when he noticed the title on the front page.

It spoke about another large attack on a Wizarding Village near Worcestershire. The article also mentioned an attack during Christmas in Inverness. Harry hadn't known about that one, since he hadn't really thought about reading a the newspaper during his holiday, but Inverness was uncomfortably close to Hogwarts.

A name amongst the list of missing people, who hadn't been found amongst the dead in Worchestershire, caught his eye and he nearly ripped the paper in two from holding it too tightly. There, black on white, was the name of a Hogwarts student.

Dennis Creevey was amongst the missing wizards.

Harry quickly glanced at the Gryffindor table where he couldn't see Colin Creevey and his trusty camera. Of course the boy would be at home. How could Harry not have noticed? His eyes scanned the table another time and then got stuck on Neville Longbottom.

Neville seemed to be bragging about something, if Harry recognized his behaviour right. It reminded him of how Ron would always retell their 'adventures' and made it seem even more heroic than it always had felt at the moment itself.

The Gryffindor had just his hands wide apart in the universal '_the fish I caught was this big_'-sign, when he noticed Harry's stare. He froze in his motion and then smirked at Harry.

Harry sighed and shook his head in a dismissing manner. He was still wondering over what could possibly have happened to make Neville of all people The Boy Who Lived. Would Neville actually be able to fight Death Eaters? Or Voldemort for that matter?

Better question: was Harry able to?

He had no idea if he could, actually. He used to have complete faith in Dumbledore, trusting his words and thinking that indeed he would be the one to vanquish the Dark Lord, but his faith had tumbled down like a house of cards.

Harry shook his head again, but this time to get rid of those thoughts. He stood up and left the Hufflepuff table, nearly forgetting to give Nathan his newspaper back. He pushed it towards him with the message he would see him later in class.

In the hallway, just outside of the Great Hall, he halted immediately as he saw another familiar person. It was none other than Luna Lovegood and the odd girl was glancing behind an ornamental chain mail. She then glanced up at the chandelier above her. Harry followed her gaze and, upon finding nothing of interest, looked back down at her.

She now stared at him and he immediately felt a smile grace his lips.

"Hello Luna," he greeted her.

The blonde Ravenclaw blinked vaguely at him and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, revealing not only her favourite radish-earrings, but also her wand, that was tucked safely behind her ear. Harry couldn't prevent a chuckle from leaving his lips. It seemed like she wasn't all that different. At least in habits.

"Hello Harry Potter," she greeted him back and then ignored his presence to start her strange searching again. It was when he saw her stumble on an uneven stone on the floor, that he realized she was barefoot. Another oddity about the already strange girl.

"Are you searching for something?" he asked, his eyes still baffled on her bare feet.

"My shoes. Usually they leave them at a very obvious space, though slightly apart from each other so have I have to search just a bit harder."

"They?"

"The people who bully me."

"Who the hell bullies you?" he demanded to know. He held absolutely no respect for bullies, as he had his fair share of abuse by his own cousin's hand, and he be damned if a friend of his was treated like that. Luna gave him an odd look as if the answer should have been obvious.

"Everyone," she stated simply and then giggled. "Are you al right? You seem to be behaving very peculiar lately."

Harry shrugged in answer and took his wand out of his sleeve. He tried to summon Luna's shoes, but the things refused to show themselves. Luna watching him for a moment before continuing searching.

Harry sighed, since trying to get her shoes there with a 'Accio' hadn't worked, he doubted they would be able to locate them any time soon. He glanced at Luna who was peering inside one of the suits of armour next to the oak front doors.

"Luna, have you eaten yet?" he asked her.

The blond girl shrugged and he sighed again. He took her by her arm and dragged her with him, careful not to let her stumble on the stairs that led down to the Hufflepuff Dorms, for she still had no shoes on and could hurt herself badly on the floor.

"Where are we going?"

"To meet a friend of mine," Harry answered shortly. The girl seemed pacified with that answer and almost started to skip besides him. She was remarkably trusting for someone who claimed to be bullied by everyone in Hogwarts.

"You know," Luna said. "If you were any other person, I'd think you'd lead me somewhere deep in the dungeons and disappear, so I'd get lost, die all lonesome and miss my first class."

Okay, maybe not too trusting. Harry wondered how many people were actually bullying her. Didn't she have any friends to protect her? Or help her find her shoes for that matter?

"So why do you think I wont do that?"

"You seem... different"

"Well, that's true. Though, I think you will indeed miss your first class." He flashed her a grin, which she returned after only a short moment of hesitation. "Both of us actually." He steered her away from the corridor that actually led to the Hufflepuff Dorms and then stopped walking.

He motioned for her to come closer to a certain painting. "I dare you to tickle the pear." he said secretively.

Luna gave him a curious look, but then reached out to do so. She squealed when it turned into a doorknob and gave him a delighted look before turning it. It seemed like she was rather adventurous and enjoyed exploring new things.

She actually gasped with amazement when she found out that the kitchens were located behind the secret entrance. Harry quickly pointed out that they were directly below the Great Hall, which made Luna squeal again.

The elves had detected their presence and it was a familiar one that was first to address them. "Master Potter sir! You be needing something?" Petrol stared with shining eyes at them, truly happy to see them. Harry placed a hand on Luna's shoulder.

"My friend Luna hasn't eaten yet, could you give her something nice? We both don't feel like facing people in the Great Hall this morning."

Petrol's eyes went from Harry to Luna. "Master Potter's friend Luna! You must sit down. What would the mistress like?"

Luna gave Harry a very stunned look and then let herself be pushed into a chair. Not before long, she was happily eating a pumpkin pie and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Harry motioned for Petrol to come closer to him and lowered himself to the elf's height. "Petrol. I have a question. Some people have hidden Luna's shoes inside the castle. Would you or the other elves be able to find them?"

Petrol nodded almost feverishly. "Of course sir. We'll always be searching for stray laundry. Finding shoes is no problem!" And indeed soon two black shoes in Luna's size were sitting neatly on the floor besides her.

"Master Potter sir has been eating well?" One of the other elves, Gill-or so Harry thought he had heard-asked him. Harry was quick to say yes, but the doubting look on the elf's face showed he didn't buy his lie.

"Master Potter is thinner than last time he was here," he told him.

Harry hadn't even realized that. Before he knew it he had a plate with sliced fruit in front of his nose and some French toast besides it. The house elf practically ordered him to eat it, which was a really odd moment and would have made Hermione proud, and Harry did obediently as he was told.

After a few bites, it didn't really feel like such a hard task anyway, since it was really tasty. Perhaps that opinion was also influenced by Luna who occasionally glanced up from her own plate of food to grin with a mouthful at him. She seemed content.

When they were full, Luna finally discovered her shoes and her hundred watt smile almost seemed to melt all elves present with giddiness. Harry made them promise to come to Luna's aid whenever she needed it, something they promised with fervour.

Just before they were to leave the kitchens, Harry motioned for Luna to go ahead. He crouched back down to Petrol's hight and bit his lip hesitantly. "Petrol, I'm just curious, but do you know if there is a statue that goes by the name 'Morgane' in Hogwarts?"

The look on Petrol face was perplexed. "No sir. There isn't."

"So you wouldn't be able to locate her either?"

Petrol seemed ashamed of having to answer in the negative again and Harry gave him a smile. "It's okay Petrol. Thank you all for your help. He quickly went after Luna, sighing mentally.

'_Well, it was worth a try.'_

**To Be continued**

* * *

**VGJekyll: **_Maybe I should explain something. So far Harry has not been doing much to change his situation, which annoyed some of you. He's been having violent mood swings, destroying friendships left and right and feeling quite lost. I described his situation to a reviewer as:_

_'Harry is currently shipwrecked and floating lost at sea, waiting for someone to find and save him. But no one will come to his rescue, so he will finally have to choose a direction and start swimming himself.'_

_I am currently (and have been the last few years) like Harry. I'm quite suffering under it (moodswings and lots of illnesses) so I finally decided to start see a psychologist about it. Which is probably the reason why Harry finally has decided to do something about his situation. I hope it goes well for both of us._

**[****Better Make it Through Today – Eric Clapton]**


	33. If Only

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not BetaRead

* * *

**33. If Only  
****  
**_If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs  
The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies  
As the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely  
He cries to the moon, if only, if only_

* * *

Harry was indeed late for his first class of the day, which was History of Magic, taught by Tobaeus Estwin. Harry had pondered over the thought if it would be better if he just skipped the whole class. It was however, of all the classes he had to follow, one most important to him right now.

And it turned out it was smart of him to go anyway, since, for today, the regular curriculum was ignored to discuss the recent Deatheater attacks that had occurred.

Harry was ushered into a chair almost gentile and received no reprimands at all for being late. Perhaps the teacher thought he and the others should be handled with care because of the previously mentioned attacks.

"-and, like Mister Fox just told us. People you might know have to deal with the attacks. Whether they experienced it, or know who did, or even lost friends or family to the hands of Evil. It is in this dire situation that we all rely on each others for support. So if you see your fellow student struggling, then don't hesitate to lend a listening ear or help them to a teacher."

Harry glanced around the classroom. Some students were nodding diligently along with the teacher's words, while others desperately tried to avoid the professor's gaze. Maybe they feared he would call on them.

Most students actually didn't seem really interested in what he was saying. Perhaps they couldn't care less about the attacks, that probably had happened far away from their homes. Or maybe didn't feel called al all to 'lend a listening ear to their fellow students', as the teacher was preaching.

Harry wondered how much the professor actually cared himself, since he and the other teachers apparently couldn't care less about what happened to Luna Lovegood. After a short glance around the docile classroom, he raised his hand. Professor Estwin raised startled his brows and then send Harry an encouraging smile

"Yes mister Potter? Do you have something to share with the class?"

"I've read in the newspapers that the last large attack by Death Eaters was at least four months ago. So why do you suppose there have now been two rather large and unexpected attacks?"

It was silent for a moment or two as the teacher and quite a lot of students stared baffled at him. It seemed like he also got the attention of those previously disinterested in the class.

'_Good.'_

"That is a rather interesting question," Professor Estwin replied, very obviously startled that Harry had been the one who came up with it. "Well, I suppose we can only guess as for the reason."

Harry wouldn't take that for an answer. "Okay, name a few."

Professor Estwin stared baffled at him. "Pardon. What do you mean?"

"Well, name a few reasons. Guess as for why it happened."

It was interesting enough another student who took Harry's bait. "I know that Chief Warlock Norrington was in Inverness during Christmas." He said and some of the boys friends started to nod agreeing.

This was the start of a long discussion. Professor Estwin could not get any order and Harry listened amused. Some idea's were rather far-fetched and mentioned more to be funny. Others could cut close to the real deal. The things Harry learned from this, he could not have read in any newspaper. It was also funny to notice that after class, he could still hear people talk about it.

Transfiguration was rather mundane compared to the previous class and Harry was only half-heartedly trying to turn a potted plant into an oil lamp. It would be easy, were it not that the task stated that it would have to be able to burn.

Harry wondered when in his life, he would need it. Wouldn't it be better if they learned how to turn it into a flash light and try to find something else than batteries to make it work on. Many things they learned at school he probably never would use in his life after Hogwarts. It was all too old fashioned.

Another class that stood out to him that day was Muggle Studies. In particular, because he got complimented for his use of the '_Muggle Law of Conservation of Energy_' in his essay about Electricity. The professor gave him a strange look that Harry blamed on his counterpart's bad reputation. Maybe the professor thought that he'd paid someone to write it for him.

Nathan took him aside to ask him how he had known about that, since there was nothing written about in in their books. Truth was that Harry had simply overheard it some time ago in his own Dimension. Hermione had been trying to explain to Ron how a walkman worked and in particular why it couldn't work on magic.

There was an awkward moment after classes when Harry was in the Hufflepuff common rooms. He had been lounging on a chair, deep in thoughts of which he later would not remember anything of, and quite enjoying his alone time. All around him were his house mates and Harry couldn't help but chuckle as he realized he'd finally started to see Hufflepuff as his house.

He still missed the red of Gryffindor though.

It was when he heard someone call out Jay's name that he snapped out of his musing. He glanced around and saw how the guy in question was surrounded with people, like he always seemed to be. Harry had been avoiding him since school had started again, and Jay hadn't seemed to mind it much.

They locked gazes and Harry was the first to look away, trying to pretend he hadn't locked gazes with the guy.

He sighed deeply. He wasn't happy with the situation. He knew he had to talk with the guy., It was just hard to take the first step. And what could he say? What did he actually have to tell the guy? Would Jay believe him if he told the truth? Harry could hardly believe it himself, and it was happening to him!

"Harry Potter?' a voice called out to him and Harry glanced up to see a younger boy staring anxiously at him. The boy was standing near the small hallway that led outside of the common room.

"I think your brother is waiting outside," the kid muttered just loud enough for him to hear and Harry nodded at him to show he'd heard. He put his hands on the chair's arms to push himself up and out of it. He then stalked calmly over to the door and gave another nod to the boy.

"Thanks kid," he said and added a relaxed smile as it seemed like the kid was very tense. He was feeling content for a change, at it showed in his demeanour. The kid seemed to relax a bit too.

Little did he know that when he had stood up and crossed the common room, several eyes had followed him. Some people had realized that Harry could be more than they had thought him to be. Others because he had gotten interesting. The last were a few girls. Harry was blissfully ignorant.

The boy who had given him the message had also flushed and if Harry had seen it, he would have been reminded of the first time he had met his world's Colin Creevey.

Outside of the Hufflepuff dorms he found as expected, Jacob waiting for him. His younger brother seemed a bothered about something and Harry couldn't prevent a flutter of worry from coursing through his body. Apparently he did already have the older brother protectiveness.

"Hey Harry,' Jacob greeted him. "Can we talk?"

The boy seemed a bit hesitant, but determined at the same time. Harry gave a nod and wrapped an arm around the kid's shoulders the same way he had done so many times during the holidays. He and Jacob had become rather close and he was not to stop that just because they were at school again.

His kid brother didn't seem to mind it much either and Harry thought amused about what a change it was from the rude boy who had called him a skirt-chaser a few weeks ago.

"Is it serious?" He asked concerned as their feet led them towards the entrance hall.

His question seemed to startle Jacob, who flushed a slight red and Harry could actually feel the muscles in the boy's neck tense. "Um, you could say that, yeah," he muttered.

Now Harry was really concerned.

They walked towards the large oak doors and stepped outside. Immediately the cold wind seemed to attack them and Jacob clutched the front of his robes together to keep the cold out. They both hadn't thought to bring coats. Luckily enough, for once Harry used his brains and put a warming charm on both of them.

They walked over the crunching snow towards the empty Quidditch pitch.

"I wrote a letter to Sirius," Jacob confessed rather sudden. This caused Harry to halt in his step, his immediate attention on the other boy. He kept silent though and Jacob continued speaking. "And I got a reply this morning."

Harry was silent for a moment, but then he had to ask. "What did you write about?"

"You. And your nightmares." Jacob confessed. He send Harry a berating look. "And don't think I didn't notice. I even heard you cry out his name once!"

"You heard?" asked Harry, horrified that Lily and James might have heard too. But he was certain he always had placed silencing charms on his bed. Did he do them wrong? Was he that useless without Hermione's aid?

"Yeah." Jacob said. He buried his hands deep into his robe's pockets.

"I snuck into your room one night to see if you had taken my Heathcote Barbary card, since you always have complained about how you never had found his card with your choco frogs." He shrugged. "I didn't know you had a silencing charm on your bed, but I tried to wake you when I saw how you were moving around. When I got near your bed, I was almost deafened by your screams."

His tone was neutral, but Harry could see how a shudder ran down the boy's spine at the remembrance. He placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder, but didn't really know how he should react to the boy's admittance. Nor what the kid's real thoughts were about it.

"I'm sorry," he finally said and the boy shrugged again, non-committally.

They were silent again and continued walking to the pitch. Harry was glancing up at the sky and wondering if next time it snowed, he would try to fly. It would be beautiful with the snowflakes around him, but also a bit dangerous. He would need a good broom that could withstand the cold and also strong enough to handle the strong winds.

"You seem to hate Bellatrix Black," Jacob finally said. His eyes hadn't strayed from the white snow in front of his feet.

"Um, kinda."

"That weird, since we have never met her. She died before we were born," stated Jacob and Harry had no idea how he could safe himself from this awkward conversation. He didn't t have to.

"Anyway about the letter," Jacob continued. "Sirius and Remus replied that they hadn't expected to ever hear of us again and they they were very happy to hear from us. Not so happy about your nightmares though."

"What actually did you write about that?"

"Only that you seem to have nightmares in which he gets killed." He glanced at Harry. "That's what it sounded like: '_You killed Sirius, you bitch_.' he quoted. '_Die Bellatrix_!' Very violent and angry. It's not something for you to be so angry and angst."

Harry let out a shaky breath. He knew absolutely nothing to say to that. It seemed like Jacob was also close to finding out about him. He wished he was a better actor.

"He wants to meet us, you know. He and Remus," Jacob then said and finally looked him in the eyes. "Do you want to go next weekend?"

"It's not a Hogsmeade weekend."

"We can sneak out. Take our brooms to the Three Broomsticks and floo to him. I've done this before with a friend to go to a party in London." A proud smile appeared on his face. "We were never found out."

"You're quite sneaky."

"I guess I take after dad."

Harry wanted to meet Sirius really badly, but he was afraid of what he would find. How much different would this world's Sirius be from his own? Or maybe he would be too much like him. He certainly didn't want to get another reality check and have his memories of Sirius disturbed by a Sirius that was an arsehole.

But the desire to meet him was larger than his doubts. He agreed. Jacob seemed really relieved to have it off his chest and they decided to return to the castle. It was on the way back that a sudden thought occurred to Harry. He glanced at his brother as the idea started to form, then shrugged and decided he could always try.

'"Say Jacob, do you happen to know Luna Lovegood?"

"Hm? Loopy Luna?"

"Don't call her that!"

"Sorry!" Jacob said quickly at Harry's chiding tone.

"Would you do something for me?"

"It depends on what?" answered Jacob suspicious. Though the look on his face showed he was actually quite willing to do whatever his older brother asked him. Harry wondered what it was exactly that he had done to make his brother like him so much.

"Will you look out for her? She is my friend, but since she's in a year below me, I cant help her out much. You probably share some classes with her, right?"

"Uh yeah. Wait! You want me to befriend her?"

Harry sighed and rubbed his hands together. Even though, thanks to his charm, they were not cold. "I'm not going to force you to befriend people you don't want to. Just, it would be nice if you could step in if you noticed that people are taking this teasing too far. Or that you tell me at least, so I can try to do something about it."

"She's really your friend? But she's... she is just a bit strange, isn't she?"

"She is strange, without a doubt. But she is also a very caring, intelligent and overall a kind person. It's just that you don't know that side of her yet."

There was a short silence.

"Do you like her?" Jacob asked and leered gauging at him. Harry had to hide yet another exasperated sigh. Why did people always think that whatever he did had to do with sex or something similar? Had his counterpart been such a slut?

"As a friend, yes." He replied and Jacob seemed to accept that answer. The boy smiled at him.

"Ill do it. I have three classes with her and I know she's sitting alone in two of them. So I'll just switch seats. I doubt my friends will mind it much."

"Will you get into trouble over it?"

"Shrew the people who give me shit for who I want to sit with. If they do complain over such a small thing, they are not worth my time," was Jacobs thought on that.

Harry couldn't stop himself from giving the kid a tight, yet brotherly hug. "You know. Sometimes you're just too cute for your own good. It makes me sometimes wish I had known you before."

"Before? What do you mean?"

"Ah um, nothing. Lets go inside."

They continued walked to the castle, then Jacob suddenly said. "Hey, just curious, but what's up with Malfoy and you?"

"What do you mean?" Had Jacob noticed the Slytherin's strange behaviour? Or did Malfoy always behave like he did towards Harry?

"Well, he's been paying more attention to you lately. Do you know why?"

"No idea."

"Hm, maybe he found out you're awesome now."

"Wait. I'm awesome?"

"Yeah, but only since you grew a backbone," Jacob said cheekily.

Harry shrugged and then did something he'd always seen George and Fred do to Ron. He took Jacob in a headlock and gave him a noogie. The boy struggled insanely and shrieked like a banshee, making Harry laugh loudly.

It was nice to have someone to play around with like this. He'd missed this while growing up, though he had never realized it until he saw how everybody in the Weasley family behaved around each other. Though Ron always complained about this brothers rough housing, it showed how close and comfortable with each other they all were.

"Lemmego! I take it back! You're not awesome!" The kid yelled loudly and Harry noticed that there were tears streaming down his cheeks, even though the boy was laughing at the same time. He let go of him and found himself immediately in the snow. Jacob had pushed him down.

The boy laughed and kicked some looses snow at Harry who raised an arm to protect his face from the cold snow.

"You little-" He muttered and was quickly on his feet to chased the laughing boy back to the castle.

**To Be Continued**

* * *

[If Only – Fiction Plane]

_**VGJekyll: **If you see mistakes in this chapter: point them out to me so I can correct 'em! NaNoWriMo went well. I 'won'.  
Having participated in that really inspired me to write more.  
I might continue that story and if I get good feedback from my friends, try to publish it in the old-fashioned way.  
Oh and I'm still working on re-writing this story together with my current BetaReader DreamofStories._


	34. On The Outside

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not BetaRead

* * *

**34. On the Outside**

_But I'm on the outside and I'm looking in**  
**I can see through you, I see your true colours**  
**Cos inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me**  
**I can see through you, see to the real you_

* * *

Harry was both looking forward to and dreading the weekend. He really wanted to meet the Sirius and Professor Lupin of this future, but he feared that he might start to bawl like a baby when he did. The hurt of losing Sirius little more than a year ago still ached deeply.

The first time he had met his godfather-that is, the first time they met and Harry knew he wasn't really a mass murderer who was out for his blood-he'd been ecstatic with the thought of being able to live with him instead of the Dursleys. To be with a real family, even if it meant living in that appalling house in Grimmauld Street.

During his summer after his fourth year at Hogwarts year, he'd been able to lure Sirius away from meetings with the Order of the Phoenix, and he'd treasured all that secret time spent.

He had liked Sirius. Though at times the man could be a bit tactless with what he said to others or things he did. Harry knew he meant no harm with it. He was just impulsive and headstrong. Harry realized that only too well later at Hogwarts, when he had an accidental glimpse at Professor Snape's memories during those dreadful Occlumancy lessons.

However, no one was perfect and he'd been happy with what he'd got. For an godfather, Sirius wasn't that bad. And he actually seemed to like Harry for who he was. Something of which he couldn't be sure with most other people.

Harry spend the remaining days of the week trying to figure out what he could say to this world's Sirius and what he should be vague about. Besides that, he paid attention in class, worked diligently on his homework, did research and still avoided Jay.

It was thus that he found himself reading '_Hogwarts: a History'_in the library after classes. It was part of his research about where everything stood in this world. He skipped over the time line to more recent years, in search of notable happenings. Things that could give him a clue about what was different from what he knew and how it could've happened.

It was with mixed feelings that he read about a certain Albus Perival Wulfric Dumbledore who got the offer of being Headmaster in 1955, but who resigned in 1980. It did have the mention of his dead only four years after his resignation, but not the reason why he resigned nor the cause of his death.

His eyes were getting tired from staring at the small print and he pushed the book away from him. All the small pictures that he saw moving while trying to read the articles, were also distracting and bad for his eyes. He lifted his glasses a bit to pinch the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment.

It was still strange to know that the man was not here and thus couldn't help him in finding a way home. He had lost all his anger towards the old man. Something which could be inspired by his meditations. Now he only felt apathy towards his old Headmaster and not for the first time did he wonder what had happened after he disappeared from Albus' office.

How had the Headmaster and Professor Snape reacted to the situation? Did they know what had happened to him? Better yet, did they care? He hadn't really left a positive last impression on them. Perhaps they were happy he was gone. Or maybe they only needed him to return to fight their battle for them. Maybe they even thought him to be dead.

"Sickle for your thoughts."

Draco Malfoy sat unexpectedly down on the chair in front of him and Harry blinked surprised. The Slytherin glanced at the book Harry had been reading and then grinned up at him. "That's a bit of heavy reading. I seriously haven't touched my copy since second year," the blond confessed.

"Oh," was Harry's owlish reaction to that statement.

"So, I heard you and your brother have made up?"

Harry frowned. "We weren't in a fight."

The Slytherin shrugged nonchalantly. "But the two of you weren't close either. That kid always was rather cold to you, right?"

What did Draco Malfoy know about it? He really did make it seem like he and this world's Harry had been friends. Was that the case? He should ask Nathan and Jay about it.

_Shite Jay! I really need to talk things over with him. And soon!_

"So?" Draco asked again. He'd picked up one of Harry's quills and was fiddling it familiarly between his fingers.

"We just bonded over Quidditch during Christmas Holls," Harry answered with a sigh. He stared at the quill, wondering if it would be petty if he were to snatch it out of the blond's fingers. He figured he'd let it slide. It would take too much energy for him to reach over the table towards it.

Draco's fine eyebrows shot up with surprise. "Quidditch? For real? I've never seen you fly."

Harry shrugged with one shoulder. He used his other hand to rest his head on it in a 'I am bored'-position. "Well, things change."

"You've got to show me! You must be spectacular for the kid to have a turn about like that!" Draco said enthusiastic, using the quill to demonstrate a steep dive. Harry sat up straight again and narrowed his eyes at the guy.

"What am I? A circus act? No. I'm not going to fly just because you say so."

"Oh, come on. I'll race you!" Draco pleaded and bribed at the same time. "I haven't flown for a while. It should be fun!"

"You're not in your house team?" Harry asked confused. The question made Draco laugh. He sounded quite unlike the one he had know. Not scoffing but, nice, he supposed. Not so condescending.

"I've never been in the house team. Why would I? The only thing I'm good at is speed, so the only available option is Seeker. But Slytherin's seeker is already quite good, so why would they even want to replace her?"

Draco let out a puff of breath to get a strand of his hair out of his face. He then grinned mischievous. "Although, I suppose she graduates this year. I could try out next year for the position. Interesting idea you got there Harry. I shall remember that."

Harry stared unbelieving at him. He couldn't quite grasp this Draco's personality. He hardly knew how to behave around him. He kept waiting for him to turn around and be nasty again, but so far the guy hadn't done it even once. Harry couldn't even remember this world's Malfoy to have been impolite to him. It was surreal.

"Draco? What are you doing with _**him**_?" a feminine and all too familiar voice asked.

This world's Hermione on the other hand...

"What does it look like?" Draco asked her with a suave grin. Hermione didn't seem amused and crossed her arms as she stared down at Draco. She appeared to ignore Harry's existence for the moment.

"You never talk to him! Why did you start now?"

Well that answered the 'W_as this world's Harry and Draco friends_'-question.

Draco crossed his arms too, but didn't move to stand up and be on equal height with her. He seemed relaxed and certain of himself. Harry realized he was a spectator to a Slytherin stare-down and leaned back in his chair to observe. This was interesting. Were they really having an argument about lil' old him?

"Because I feel like it," was Draco's simple answer. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Because you feel like it." She repeated his words dryly. "Well, what would you do if I just walked up to Weasley and snogged him, just because I felt like it? Huh?"

Draco shrugged. "Go ahead, if it makes you happy."

"I don't believe you! You hate him! You'd hate it if I would do that too. Admit it!"

"Hate is a strong word. I merely strongly dislike his presence."

"Like I do Potter!"

"Then go somewhere else, cause I happen to like him." Draco stated, his voice suddenly a bit colder than before.

Harry blinked insanely. His mind wouldn't just understand or believe what he was seeing. And did Draco just say that he _liked_Harry? He wasn't sure if he had heard it right, neither did Hermione from her incredulous look. It was as if all the blood had left her face.

"Repeat that please? I don't think I heard you right."

Draco stared challenging at her, his face tight and then, when his eyes flicked to Harry, seemingly to gauge his reaction, the Hufflepuff knew he needed to get out of there. He really didn't want to know if he had heard that right. Nor what it could_ actually _mean.

He abruptly stood up and grabbed his satchel. He could leave the books where they laid, for they were not his anyway. It would probably be a bit more work for the Librarian, but Harry would apologize to him later. He now needed a quick exit.

Hermione finally glanced at him and Draco's expectant gaze also hadn't faltered. Harry's eyes shot to the quill on the table next to the blond and decided that it would just be a victim of war.

_Goodbye quill, you have served me well._

"I just remembered I have to meet Jay," he quickly told them. "So I guess eh. Bye!"

He was out of the Library, before they could say anything, and nearly ran through the corridors back to the Hufflepuff dorms. He **knew**that Draco had meant that he wanted to be Harry's friend and nothing else. Really. It brought back memories of meeting Draco when he was first brought into the Wizarding world. Perhaps it was fate that even in another dimension Draco wanted something from him.

Really, that was all. Oh Merlin, the thought that Draco might have meant more with it was only because people had been questioning his sexuality every since he was there. Really, that was all.

"I'm going insane, I just know it," he muttered tiredly to himself as he leaned against a wall near the Hufflepuff dorms. "Totally barmy."

"You've never been all there anyway." Jay commented from beside him. Harry snapped his eyes open and was just in time to see Jay send him a tight nod, before moving to walk by him. Harry's arm shot out to grab the other's sleeve, as if it had a mind of its own.

"Wait, Jay!" he said and then realized he couldn't back out of this. "I need to talk. I mean-we need to talk."

Jay had stopped and stared for a moment gauging at him. Then he smiled knowing and nodded. "Yeah, it's about time."

Harry had the decency to blush. He knew it was his cowardice that had kept him away. But he was allowed his moments of wimpiness, just like anybody else. He just thought it to be awkward that it was indirectly because of Draco Malfoy that he had found some courage, or at least determination to finally bite the bullet.

He followed Jay into the dorms.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**VGJekyll:**__ I have too much that needs to be addressed. I suppose I'll keep it short and try to give longer explanations in replies to reviews. Yes, Harry is in his 6th school year. It will be written more clearly in the first chapter of the Rew__rite.  
There was going to be Jay and Harry's talk after this, and it has been written, but I was extremely dissatisfied with it. So rather than giving you a bad version, I'm gonna work on it a bit more, see if I can improve it, and give it to you in the next chapter.  
Some of you might have read it in my profile, but my laptop was dead and I couldn't write because of that, I now have bought a new one, and have a copy of my back-up again, so no worries._

**[On the Outside – Staind]**


	35. Secret

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta Read

* * *

**35. Secret**

_Got a secret, can you keep it?__  
__Swear this one you'll save__  
__Better lock it, in your pocket__  
__Taking this one to the grave_

* * *

The two Hufflepuffs entered their dorms. There were many students scattered about who send greetings their way, but Jay studiously ignored them. He led Harry directly to their sleeping quarters. Harry wordlessly followed him. He was too worried about what was to come for niceties anyway.

There was one other person in the sleeping dorms and Jay kicked them out with the message that he'd make it up to him later. Harry thought he'd never have the nerve to do so to a dorm mate. Nor would anyone actually listen to him.

Jay locked the door behind the fleeing guy. Harry was quick to follow that up with a silencing charm, thinking that he had gotten quite good at those from the frequent use of them. Jay seemed to inspect his handiwork for a moment and then gave a nod. Harry wasn't sure what it meant.

After a short moment, Jay dropped down on Nathan's bed while Harry hesitantly sat down on his own. He had no idea how to start this conversation and remembered his breaking up with Wicket. That had felt just as awkward. He doubted it would end as easy as that talk did though.

"So..." Harry started talking and then trailed off. He really had no idea how to begin this.

Jay sighed and stood up again. He walked to his trunk, opened it and started to rummage around. He retrieved a bottle with clear green liquid from it. Harry stared curious as Jay transfigured two small statues of Quidditch players he had on his side table into small cups. He offered one to Harry and then filled it up before adding the liquid to his own.

He raised it to Harry in a toast as he sat down on the bed again and offered a 'cheers' before he threw it back.

"Is this alcohol?" Harry asked a bit incredulous as he took a careful sniff of it. It smelled vaguely like banana's, and very sweet.

"What do you think?" Jay answered in a challenging manner. He filled his cup again. Harry glanced from his cup to Jay's and accepted the challenge. He gulped it down and then tried in vain to keep himself from coughing, but it didn't help. He wiped with a sleeve over his mouth to prevent any of it from coming back up and stared with wide eyes at Jay.

Jay was laughing at him.

"Strong stuff huh! My uncle send it to me."

"By Merlin," Harry muttered and gulped in the hopes of getting the strong taste to soften. "I can't believe we are drinking alcohol in the middle of the day. At school." Harry muttered. His earlier anxiety seemed far and distant. He licked his lips, finally noticing that the stuff had a nice after-taste.

"Then don't believe it," said Jay, before drowning his second cup. "I just figured we needed it for this talk."

Harry nodded as he held out his cup for another refill. This time it went down easier and though he had the urge to cough, it passed after a few swallows and he felt the warmth spread through his body.

"Bloody strong stuff. What is it?"

"Something Indonesian. Ambon banana, something? Uncle probably made his own version or so."

The sudden silence between them was not uncomfortable but impending. Harry just poured his third cup down his throat, when Jay placed his cup down. The boy leaned back on the bed, letting his hands carry his weight.

"So..." he started. "Let's talk."

"Okay, so hear me out," Harry started speaking, only to realize he still didn't know what to say. He bit annoyed on his lip and then ruffled agitated with a hand through his hair. Jay's eyes flicked one moment to his forehead, but Harry didn't notice.

"Our Harry does that too," Jay said. "Which is probably what you wish to talk about, am I right?"

"Yeah, okay. So how did you really know I'm not your Harry? I mean, yeah I figured most of my behaviour is different, but really?"

"I had my suspicions from your strange behaviour, yeah. I noticed you didn't recognize some people and were overly familiar with people I've never even seen you glance at before. You got a sudden attitude, while before you'd shrink away from any kind of attention. Then there was of course also the Marauder's Map, I took it from Harry's Trunk after you asked me for those private lessons."

"What about it?"

"It shows your name as "Harry James Potter."

Harry wondered what was wrong with that, but Jay was already continuing.

"While I know Harry has the middle name_ 'Charlus_', so that gives a strange situation. Are you an evil twin? A clone? An undercover auror?"

Harry took a deep breath. Time to test the waters. "What would you do if I told you that I have killed the original Harry?"

Jay snorted. "I wouldn't believe you."

"Why not?"

"You don't seem the kind of person that kills an innocent person in cold blood."

"... now that's where you are wrong," muttered Harry depraving.

"Explain," Jay ordered.

"Explain?" Harry repeated his words. He then shrugged. This was the perfect moment to tell someone about how he was from another dimension and he figured Jay wasn't the worst person to tell. He was smart and trustworthy and he already knew a lot about Harry.

So he did.

He told about how his headmaster had been untruthful, how he had been in a fight with this bastard of a teacher, how he suddenly found himself near Hogwarts and met this world's Harry Potter. Jay seemed oddly accepting of his story.

"So you're from another world?"

"I think so."

"And you think your killed our Harry?"

"Unless he can be reborn from ashes like a phoenix, yeah."

Jay unsuspectingly started to laugh and Harry stared incredulous at him. "How can you laugh about this? I killed your friend! I'm a murderer!"

"No you're not,' Jay said and then started to explain himself. "Maybe a murderer, but you didn't kill my friend. I should explain some things too. I noticed Harry starting to act out of character, long before that night. And I had send him a note to meet me near Hagrid's cabin that eve."

He shrugged. "He never came. And then in the morning I saw him walking up to the Gryffindor table seemingly wanting to sit there."

Harry groaned. "Yeah I remember that. My first day here."

"Honestly. I was going to call him out on his act. Our Harry would never go outside after curfew, not knowing who he is going to meet. He'd been beat up in first year like that few times. He's learned not to follow anonymous notes."

"Do you know who did it?"

"What?"

"The beatings in the first year?"

"Michael Caine from Ravenclaw, I'm sure. Together with someone else. I think it might have been Ron Weasley though."

"Why would they do that?" Harry asked astonished.

"Yeah, you wouldn't know. Well, Neville and Harry used to be friends. The first few months of school, at least. Supposedly they met on the train, where their pets were in a fight. Harry's cat messed up Neville's owl. And for some sort of reason that was the start of a tentative friendship."

"I've never seen a cat?"

"It disappeared one day." Jay shrugged. "But Neville's rather famous and Harry always tried to blend in and not get noticed. I guess the bullies thought him to be a good target, because he never fought back and if Weasley really had something to with it, then it assured him his place at Neville's side. Instead of you."

"Bloody hell..." Harry wished he'd more of the liquor. He felt like he could really use it right now. "So, your Harry was acting out of character?"

"Yep. I'm quite certain that he was someone else acting under Polyjuice Potion. Unfortunately, I didn't have the Map back then, otherwise I would've know who it really was."

"And you wanted to meet him alone? You could've died!"

"Why do you think I picked Hagrid's cabin? He was there with Kettleburn. I could've called out to them."

"This all doesn't make sense!"

"You being here doesn't make any sense. You claim to be from another dimension. Anyone else would stamp you insane. Or a liar."

"... but not you," observed Harry.

"He is still alive, you know," Jay told him and Harry send him an incredulous look. "No really. Jacob has a watch, and I took a look at it before the holidays. He thought it was faulty though, since your name was instead of on 'school' on 'lost'."

He glanced gauging at Harry. "You have no idea either, do you?"

Harry wondered what was on Jacob's watch and if he could take a look at it. Perhaps it had been on 'lost' because there wasn't the choice of 'dead' on it. Or maybe was was simply too pessimistic about it all. He bit down on his lip, deep in thought.

"If he's still alive, we have to find him."

"I know." Jay simply said and send him a grin. "Already on it."

Harry stared surprised at it and Jay shrugged nonchalantly. "I probably have mentioned this uncle of mine... let's just say that he is working on it."

"How?"

Jay confided that he had absolutely no idea, but had full trust in his uncle to find out what had happened to their Harry. Meanwhile, Harry would just have to keep pretending to be him. That didn't sit right with Harry. It was not in his character to sit it out and wait, unable to do anything.

But for the moment, Jay was right. There was nothing they could do. No matter how much he detested it, he would have to wait till they got any intelligence from Jay's uncle.

But that didn't mean that Harry would have to like it.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**VG Jekyll: **__Honestly? Fuck this chapter: I hate it!_

**[Secret - The Pierces]**


	36. Ode to my Family

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll_  
Not Beta Read

* * *

**36. Ode To My Family**

_Understand what I've become, it wasn't my design  
And people everywhere think, something better than I am  
But I miss you, I miss, 'cause I liked it,  
'Cause I liked it, when I was out there._

* * *

It was finally weekend and the brothers Potter had plans to sneak out of Hogwarts.

Jacob claimed to have arranged an alibi for the both of them. In case students or professors were to ask about them, his best friend, Romilda Vane, would tell people that they were bonding somewhere in the castle and playing chess or so.

It was a good excuse, since their so called animosity had been known throughout the student body. And some people must have noticed that since Christmas the two had been closer and every once in a while hung out together. Jacob also tried to get harry to fly with him again on the Quidditch pitch when it was empty. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to go there; it could draw more attention to him. And he'd just agreed with Jay to try to keep a low profile.

Jacob's original intentions were to take school brooms from the shed and use those to get to Hogsmeade. Harry argued against those, claiming that there could be tracers on them. It also happened to be that he knew a better way of getting to the wizarding village.

He brought his little brother to where previously the statue of the One-Eyed Witch had been. Earlier that week, he'd checked if it was still there. It wasn't. Instead he found the statue of a Goblin with a wand raised high above his head. Furthermore, the whole hallway was hung with tapestries portraying the Goblin Rebellions of the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Harry had laughed when he'd noticed it, thinking that Professor Binns would have been ecstatic too see it.

Curiously enough, it still worked as the entrance to a secret passageway. It had taken him quite a few tries to figure out what he had to do, resulting in a hilarious scene-to which there was thankfully no public-of Harry fondling a statue and yelling _Dissendium_ at it. He finally discovered that he had to slip the wand out of the statue's hand and combine that with the charm.

As soon as he did, a small hole appeared in the wall behind it. And when he placed it in the goblin's long-fingered hand again, the hole slowly closed. It gave him just enough time to dive after his brother into the passageway.

Jacob already had muttered a _Lumos_ and his wand was spreading a small amount of light around that lit up the walls beside them. Harry figured they could need some more light, you never know what they could encounter, and made his wand trace the familiar loop of the _Lumos_ charm in the air, but muttered _Lumos Maxima_.

The brighter light shone deep into the corridor and Harry was glad to see there were hardly any obstructions. Just a lot of spider webs and loose rocks on the uneven floor. Beside him, Jacob let out a short holler that echoed through the hallway and Harry nudged him sharply.

"Don't do that!" he chastised him. "We don't know how far the sound carries!"

Jacob seemed unabashed and grinned. His teeth reflected the light. "This is awesome! As a kid I was always hoping to find secret paths in the forest near our house, but this is even better! Where does it lead to?"

Harry chuckled. "The basement of Honeydukes."

"Are you serious? That's so freaking cool! Free candy!"

"Hey, stealing is not okay. We're not gonna take anything."

"I could leave money?"

"No."

"Geesh, stick up your-"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the imprudent brat. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," mumbled Jacob and Harry couldn't stop a grin from spreading on his face. He ruffled with a hand through the kid's hair and then went in front. He didn't think Jacob was afraid of spiders, but all his time spend with Ron had made it almost instinct to brave spider webs for his friend's sake.

The long walk to Honeydukes was spend with some talk about what jay had done that week, and Harry listened content. Jacob told him about how Luna Lovegood had offered him a strange talisman as a friendship gift and he was not sure what to do with it.

Harry was simply glad that she at least had Jacob and also himself to rely on. Maybe he should give her something nice too. He should try to remember what charm Hermione had used on those coins to assemble DA. Maybe he could give her something like that.

They arrived at Honeydukes and sneaked out without an incident, something which had been easy enough with all the people shopping there. Using the floo of The Three Broomsticks was a bit trickier and Harry was glad they wore normal clothing, for their uniforms would certainly have stood out.

Since Jacob knew where they had to go, Harry made him go first. He was surprised to hear the name of the street, but then he took a deep breath and whispered the address. "66 Baker Street."

As he should have expected from his earlier travels by floo, he found himself stumbling out of the hearth, only to bump into Jacob's back. This made the kid stumble too and Jacob jabbed with an elbow in Harry's stomach. "Watch out!" Jacob said as Harry used him to keep standing upright. Harry nearly lost his footing again as Jacob stepped out of his grasp and into the arms of no other than Remus Lupin.

"Uncle Moony! I missed you!" Jacob said as he clung onto the man. Remus looked over the boy's shoulder at Harry and smiled warmly.

"I missed you too," he replied to the greeting. His words were clearly meant for both of the boys and Harry wondered how long it had actually been since the werewolf last saw Jacob and this world's Harry.

Since he was now hugging Jacob, it gave Harry the time to give him a once over. He looked only vaguely like Professor Lupin he'd know. This version of him certainly seemed healthier and better fed. His robes didn't have tears or mends and even his hair lacked the grey hairs he had gotten accustomed too, but that could as well be a glamour.

The thing that stood out the most was the intercession in his left brow. Almost as if he had a nearly invisible scar there that deterred any hairs of growing there. Remus amber eyes were still on Harry, as Jacob finally stepped away from him, and he took a step closer.

"Hello Harry," Remus said warmly and then ever so slightly scrunched up his nose as if smelling something strange.

_Shite! Werewolves have better senses right? Can he smell a difference?_

But the moment was soon gone and then Harry found himself in the man's arms. He'd never been really close to Professor Lupin, but he supposed that this world's Harry had been before the break with his parents. It would only be kind to return the friendly embrace.

When he was released from the embrace, he quickly stepped aside and glanced around the small foyer. He had expected to see this world's Sirius, but the man was nowhere to be found. Remus seemed to have noticed his searching gaze and patted his back. He also pulled Jacob closer as he started to lead them to another room.

"Sirius is in the kitchen," he explained the unasked question.

"Why did he not greet us at the floo?" Jacob asked a bit hurt.

"He's preparing you hot chocolate, knowing you had to travel through the cold to get here. You ungrateful brat."

"Oh, I'm grateful!" Jacob quickly countered and then bolted to the kitchen, which he apparently still knew how to find. They heard him yell a loud greeting. When they entered, he was hugging Sirius from behind, while trying to steal some cookies off a plate on the counter.

This Sirius looked so much like Harry's, that it almost made him cry. The man himself seemed just as emotional at their union and for a moment the two simply stared at each other.

"Hello Harry," Sirius finally said, his voice so achingly familiar. Harry had a hard time not running at him, like Jacob had done before.

_Not your Sirius! He is not the one you knew, even though they look so much alike. Keep them apart._

Sirius looked uncomfortable as Harry still didn't make a move towards him and then turned to the counter to grab the mugs of hot chocolate. He passed one to Jacob and reached out to offer Harry his. Harry was grateful for the warmth and nearly inhaled the smell, glad with it's short distraction.

Remus walked past him to Sirius side. He glanced in passing at Harry's cup and seemed to sniff again. He turned to Sirius. "Did you put sugar in it?" he asked. Sirius' nod made Remus laugh softy. "Harry never has enjoyed sugar in his chocolate," he lovingly scolded the man and Sirius looked dismayed at that remark.

He then stared apologetic at Harry. "I'm sorry Harry. I forgot? I'm really sorry! I'll make you a new one," he promised and reached out for the mug. Harry shrugged and smiled tentatively.

"Don't worry. I recently started drinking it with sugar, so I've gotten used to it. Its no problem really." It was of course not true and Harry had always had an enormous sweet-tooth, but this Sirius seemed so conscious of himself and emotional. Harry had the funny desire to make the man feel at ease.

His Sirius had never been like that. Well, he had had a temper and was quick to jump from emotion to emotion, but he never had seemed so uncertain of himself. It bothered Harry more than seeing how Remus had to rub comforting circles on the man's back as they travelled to the living room. Perhaps this world's Harry had said some very hurtful things to Sirius last time they'd met?

Harry left Jacob and Remus to lead the talk, occasionally adding in his dime, but mostly just listening. Sirius was silent and held a constant gaze on Harry. He send a small smile in Harry's way whenever their gazes crossed paths, but overall it felt quite uncomfortable.

"Your hair has grown longer," Remus suddenly commented and was about to swipe with a hand through Harry's hair, but the boy ducked away. He had taken great care not to let anyone notice his scar and the longer hair had helped, mostly. Not even Lily or James had noticed it.

The conversation stayed on safe subjects, though Harry longed to find out how exactly James and Lily had stopped the contact. And how Sirius and Remus had actually gotten together, but he couldn't get himself to throw the pebble in that metaphorical pond.

When at one moment, Harry held Sirius gaze for a bit longer than before, the man suddenly jumped up. He mumbled something below his breath after which he literally fled the room. Remus was quick to follow with with an apology and left the two brothers alone in the living room.

"What the hell just happened?" Jacob asked Harry, who shrugged and told Jacob to stay put. Harry stood up too and went after them. They weren't that hard to find as Sirius had fled into the nearest empty room. They also hadn't thought to put up a silencing charm either and the door was ajar.

"-know it's hard, Siri." He heard Remus speak. "But I am already grateful they tried to get into contact with us in the first place. This is your chance to get to know them!"

A quick peek through the crack of the door showed how Remus was holding Sirius, who was crying. It was a heartbreaking thing to see him like this. His Sirius never had wept, not like this, yet it made Harry's chest feel tight and painful. The man clung onto Remus, who rubbed him comforting over his back again.

"He looks so much like him! Even his eyes-" Sirius sobbed miserably. "Even the look in his eyes is nearly identical! Merlin, I miss him, Remy. I miss him so much!"

Remus let him cry on his shoulder and grieve. And Harry felt bad for this Sirius who had lost his best friend all because of James his bigotry and prejudices. And he hated James in that moment. He hated him for discarding a friendship like that.

He hated James, for Harry' Sirius had laid his own life on the line to get revenge on Peter for betraying James and Lily. And James had thrown that friendship away as if it was worth nothing. Maybe he shouldn't have come. This Sirius already seemed like an emotional wreck. It would be mean to make him endure more.

Sirius kept mumbling into Remus shoulder, though his tears seemed to have dried up. He was now forlorn. "What if Bellatrix got to him too, Remy? What if she killed him? I will never know..."

Harry stilled and his body seemed to grow colder as he realized what Sirius was actually saying.

"I was his Godfather, Remy! I escaped Azkaban for him, yet I was not able to help him against that bitch of a cousin of mine!"

At those words, Harry tugged the door wide open, making both grown-ups look started at him. He stared shocked from the doorway of the room at them. The name that left his mouth was the one that Hermione had thought up. One that Sirius normally wouldn't be called by in this world.

"Snuffles...?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**

_**VGJekyll: **I always intended to have Sirius be OURSirius. Death By Veil was NOT an option. And, yeah, I cried a lot while reading that, even though everyone had already spoiled it months before I got to read the book._

_I feel bad about the long time periods between updates, yet you people still read it! I love you guys. Truly, I do._

**[Ode to my Family – Cranberries]**


	37. No More Secrets

******The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**___By VG Jekyll  
Not Beta-read_

* * *

_****__**3**__****__**7**__****__**. **_******No More Secrets**

___No more secrets, no more lies__****__**  
**____See right through your alibis__****__**  
**____Take a look into my eyes__****__**  
**____No more secrets, no more lies_

* * *

Harry was not sure if he would ever be able to breathe again.

From the moment he had called Sirius-___HIS Sirius!_-by his Animagus's nickname, he'd been embraced in such a tight hug, it had pushed all the air out of his lungs. Sirius had swept him right of his feet too, and it didn't look like Sirius was going to let go of him any time soon. Not that Harry minded. He felt like he could stay in this embrace forever.

It felt like coming home. Like he had found something he had lost and thought he'd never find again. Which was in fact what had in fact happened. His worries just disappeared, because Sirius was here. His godfather was here. And Harry was not alone anymore.

The older man held onto him as if he were were afraid that Harry would disappear as soon as he let go of him. His large hands were clutching Harry's shirt rather tightly and he kept muttering how it was impossible that Harry was really there. Impossible, but oh so wonderful. He was so incredible happy to see Harry. And he loved Harry very much, did Harry know that?

Harry simply clung back and let the stream of words fall over him. Apparently it had seemed like the two of them would never let go of each other, for Remus forcefully separated them and then ushered them back to the living room where Jacob still was waiting.

Harry immediately felt ashamed of himself when he saw that the boy was still dutifully sitting on the couch, waiting for them to return. The boy's face was rather pale though, and his brow was furrowed. He had probably worried about what was going on and why they hadn't returned for a while.

"I'm sorry I-" Harry started to explain, but Jacob didn't let him finish his excuse.

"I overheard," he said. The boy's eyes were firmly fixed on his own hands. He was rubbing them together as if they were itchy. Harry bit his lower lip and glanced to the two adults. Remus shrugged, not having noticed the boy listening in on them earlier despite his better senses.

Sirius didn't appear to notice Jacob at all. He was still firmly immersed with staring at Harry. Perhaps he was afraid that it was all an illusion and that Harry was nothing more but a Boggart that could disappear on him at any time.

"You followed us?" Harry asked. His brother snorted and finally looked up to stare reproachingly at him.

"I'm a Gryffindor," Jacob stated shortly. "How could you expect me-of all people-to stay behind when something strange is going on? And I already knew before you, just so you know. I already figured something odd was up long ago. And-"

Remus held placating his hands up. "Jacob, listen to me, please. It's compli-"

Jacob shook his head and nearly sprung up from his seat on the couch. He took his gaze of Harry to glance from Remus to Sirius and back. He pointed accusing with a finger at the two of them.

"No! I know exactly what is going on! I get it. I'm not stupid, you know! In first year, the sorting hat considered placing me in Ravenclaw, I told you that." The last part of the sentence was directed at Remus with a firm nod.

He then pointed at Sirius. "You are not my Sirius. I knew that the moment you and Remus got together. No, sooner even. I knew it the moment our Sirius died!"

"How the hell do you know about that?" Sirius asked startled. He finally lifted his gaze off Harry, who felt like a large gust of wind was now sweeping through his lungs again.

"My watch had his name on it and it was on 'Gone'. I was actually mourning his dead when you showed up at our doorstep with Remus. You pretended to be him for weeks, before you told mum and dad the two of you got hitched."

He then turned to face Harry. "And you are not my brother, I know that! He was a big arse and you are not. He hated flying and you seem to love it!' He glanced away from Harry, seemingly embarrassed as he added: "You talk to me at school."

___Okay,_ Harry thought amazed. The kid was indeed smart. Though the way he spoke about his real brother made Harry wonder how bad the relationship between the two of them actually had been. When the kid stopped talking, probably to finally catch his breath, Harry asked what had been worrying him.

"And what do you think of all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you... hate me?"

Jacob appeared honestly surprised at that statement. "Why would I hate you?'

"I'm pretending to be your brother. I tried to trick you," Harry pointed out, Jacob merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I like you better than him. He can stay away for all I care."

Though that statement made Harry feel slightly happy inside for being wanted, it couldn't shut away a small thread of dread. "Your brother could be dead, or locked away somewhere," he warned.

The kid looked ashamed, showing that this hadn't even spared a thought to that. Harry then felt a hand on his shoulder as Remus pulled him around to face him. He looked grave.

"What happened to my Harry?" He asked him and Harry couldn't prevent a shiver from travelling down his spine. He shrugged the hand off and let himself fall down on the couch. He didn't mind the fact that Sirius sat down beside him, close enough to feel his body heat. It felt comforting.

Jacob was quick to claim his other side, though he kept some space in between them.

Never did Harry imagine that he'd had to regale the same story he'd told Jay, twice in the same week. Specially after having agonized over it for such a long time. Jacob, Remus and his Sirius were good listeners though. They didn't interrupt him while he told what he knew, and Remus only asked questions to make Harry go deeper into details or to help him continue when he couldn't find the right words.

"-his uncle is looking into it," he finalized his tale. He gratefully gulped down the glass of water that Remus had retrieved for him.

"Could you ask Jay for his uncle's name and contact information? Sirius and I would like to contact him to see what he's actually doing. And maybe we can help." Remus glanced at Sirius who gave a short nod. "We don't want to sit here twiddling our thumbs and do nothing."

Harry promised to see what he could do and then Jacob tried to draw his attention. The kid seemed a bit disturbed. "So um, I don't exist where you're from?" he finally asked. Harry blinked at the unexpected question.

"Ah no. My mum died when I was but one year old."

Remus shared an ominous look with Sirius, who shrugged to show he hadn't been aware of anything.

"She must have been pregnant when she passed away," Remus figured.

Sirius shook his head. "James would've told me. He was my best friend."

"Maybe they didn't know it themselves." Remus placated him.

Harry drew an arm around Jacob, who had been strangely silent after the question. "I guess that taking my baby brother away from me is another thing for me to hate Voldemort for," he muttered darkly, and totally missed the perplexed, yet happy look on Jacob's face.

Remus and Sirius caught it though and shared another knowing look.

They spoke more about what Harry had gone through ever since he had appeared into this universe and about what he had discovered so far. He flushed when Remus pointed out that he hadn't done that much when it came to research.

Sirius asked if Harry still suffered from visions, which the Hufflepuff could thankfully deny. Sirius' relieved smile was wiped off his face by Jacob though, who piped up that Harry suffered from nightmares. Harry shot him a betrayed look, but the kid seemed undisturbed.

"Well, it's true!" Jacob argued. "And mum always said it was better to speak about those things instead of bottling them up. Besides, I had written them about it anyway."

Sirius and Remus vowed to help him get over that, starting with sending him a batch of dreamless potion as soon as they could. They also spoke about how Sirius got there, after falling through the Veil and how he tried to go back to his real dimension.

Apparently he did nothing short of throwing himself through the Veil again. But then he met this world's Remus, who knew immediately that he wasn't their real Sirius and things escalated from there.

The two boys promised to keep in contact with Remus and Sirius though letters and floo, if possible. Harry also vowed to spend his next Hogsmeade visit with them, to which Jacob said he'd like to join them too.

Before Harry and Jacob moved to leave, Sirius took his godson apart for another bone crushing hug. He muttered into Harry's hair how hard it was to let him leave to Hogwarts.

"I really missed you kid," he admitted and Harry's throat felt tight. He gulped a few times to get rid of the hot, constricting feeling.

"I missed you too," he said rather quietly. He didn't want to leave either, not now he knew he wasn't really alone anymore. He finally had someone to fall back on, to trust unconditionally to just be there for him. Sirius then asked if Harry was really all right with Remus and Sirius being together in a romantic relationship.

"If not, I would... I can..." he mumbled, clearly feeling uncomfortable and rubbing awkwardly his neck.

Harry stared gaping at him. "Bloody hell! Siri! I would never ask you to leave someone you love! Why would you even think I-" Harry's outraged rant was cut off by another bone crushing hug and Harry simply let himself go limp. The indignation left as he realized that Sirius was mouthing '___thank you's_' into his hair.

"Be safe, Harry," Sirius finally said as goodbye. "The war here is not in full swing yet, but it's coming closer."

"I'll be able to protect myself," Harry promised. He hadn't told them about his elemental power yet though. Since he still wasn't sure if Morgane had been real or not. He'd tell them at a later date. Really. Honest.

Probably.

* * *

**__****To Be Continued**

_****__**VGJekyll:**_  
___So, I couldn't stop smiling and really wanted to hug Jacob-no matter how fictional he is-when I read this:__****__**  
J.K. Rowling has revealed that Lily was pregnant with her second child, when Voldemort killed her.**_

___And I read something on Fandom Wank about fanfic writers who feel entitled to receive good feedback. Can I just say that I'm still incredibly happy and humbled to receive any replies? Specially with my erratic way of uploading chapters and all the long time-spans in between updates._  
___Each time, I am amazed you people still haven't given up on me yet!_  
___THANK YOU!_  
___(even though I feel like it's a crappy written chapter. Again.)_

___Oh, and if you wish to know why it took me so long this time:_  
___I wrote_

___three first drafts of original novels. Hopefully, I'll be able to publish them some day._

**__****[Papa Roach – No More Secrets]**


	38. I Wish, I Wish

******The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**___By VG Jekyll  
Not Beta-read_

* * *

_****__**3**__****__**8**__****__**. **_******I Wish, I Wish  
**  
___I wish I knew, I wish I knew_  
___What makes me, me, and what makes you, you_  
___It's just another point of view_  
___A state of mind I'm going through_

* * *

The days after Harry's unexpected reunion with his godfather Sirius and this world's Remus went by like in a flash. It was as if time was suddenly speeding up.

It was not unlike being in the middle of a Quidditch game and noticing the Golden Snitch. To him it had always felt like time started to go by in slow-motion, only to fast forward the moment his hand wrapped around the elusive Snitch. As if time was trying to catch up again.

For the first moment in weeks Harry felt at peace, content even. He wasn't on his own anymore in a world not his own. There were people who knew about him being from another dimension and they didn't blame him for having kept it a secret for so long. It really felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

He found himself paying more attention in classes. Now that he had less to worry about, he felt like he might as well commit to it. Hermione would have been proud. He also tried to spend more time with people at the school. Those people mostly being what already started to be called 'the usual gang', consisting of Nathan, Jay and now also his brother Jacob.

Harry tried to devote some time on getting to know other people too. This could be people like Luna, with who he had long walks through the snow while talking about the most random subjects. Or there was Tarin, a Ravenclaw, with who he had to do a project for Transfiguration with.

Then there were the Hufflepuffs with who he sat and joked around with in the common room. One of them, Nyte, could talk his ears off and didn't appear to even care if he replied to what she was saying. It was nice to have people like her around for a change. He felt more relaxed around them and it apparently showed in his behaviour, otherwise they wouldn't have wanted to be around him.

Chastised as he had been by Remus during their meeting, he kept researching things that were different from his own time. He made a long list with on the left how he knew it to be and on the right how it appeared to be in this world. He kept making copies of the list, as he added things, and send it by owl to Sirius.

He also tried to acquire a Pensieve, which had actually been quite a hassle, until he remembered he could simply ask the Room of Requirement to provide him with one. There he found himself diving many times into the Pensieve to see what happened in Albus his office and what could have triggered his sudden transportation.

So far, he still couldn't pinpoint if it was the spell work or magical objects that had fallen down.

It was also in the Room of Requirement that he and Jay continued their training. The other boy hadn't known of the room's existence and had been very enthusiastic when Harry had shown it to him.

The Hufflepuff was sceptic when Harry led him up to the seventh floor and raised questioning a brow when Harry started to pace in front of a wall ornament that looked like a voodoo mask in the left corridor. He literally jumped when in the wall across of the mask a simple green door had appeared.

Harry smirked at him and then pointed to the door, a clear invite to Jay to go ahead and see where the mysterious door led to. Not being one to step out of the way of a challenge, Jay approached the door and carefully opened it. He glanced inside and then back at Harry.

The look on his face nearly made Harry topple over with laughter.

"What's this?" the boy asked confused and then entered, closely followed by Harry who didn't want to miss his reaction. "Is this? Wait, that comes from our Dorms, and that is from the Transfiguration classroom. And why is there a bloody axe embedded in the floor?"

Jay asked amazed as he whirled around to take in all his surroundings. "How the bloody hell did you ever find this place?"

Harry couldn't help but feel a bit proud for making the other look so baffled. He leaned against the door they had come in through and stuck his hands inside his trouser pockets.

He shrugged. "A house-elf told me."

"A house-elf? Weird. How does it work?"

"You have to walk three times past that spot, like I just did, and think very specifically about what you are looking for. And if for example, you don't want people to walk in on you, you have to add that thought, otherwise others who know about it can enter too."

Jay laughed amazed. "And you especially asked for a table filled with food?" He asked with a grin, as he motioned at the table standing against the wall on the other side of the door.

Harry shrugged a bit uncomfortable. "That is something that just keeps popping up whenever I use the room," he admitted. "What do you think of the rest?"

Jay started to study his surroundings again. "Looks perfect for our sort of training." He pointed at a doll. "You ever have a dummy, that's awesome. It's rather ugly though."

A wry grin shifted onto Harry's face. "Looks exactly like the guy he's based on."

"That's a man? Heh, monster is more likely. Maybe a vampire?" He lost interest in the ugly dummy and walked curious to a large chest to peer inside. He whistled when he noticed the Bludgers in it, immediately guessing their purpose there. "Smart thinking, Harry," he said admiring and petted the chest as if it were a dog.

Harry grinned and motioned about. "So, good enough?"

Jay shrugged, but grinned excited back. "I guess it will do." He glanced around again. "It needs a kick ass name!"

"I call it the Room of Requirement, though I heard someone refer to it as the Come and Go Room."

"How many actually know about its existence?"

"Here? I don't know. In my world... actually a fair deal of people, now that I think about it."

"So, how's your training been going" Jay then asked. Harry told him sheepishly that, although he'd been doing a bit of it, he'd spend more time with his parents, brother and relaxing. Jay had shrugged to that admittance. Telling the other that he could do what he wanted, Jay wasn't a professor, just someone willing to help Harry train.

This of course made Harry feel worse about not really doing his best.

Jay then asked Harry to show some of the things he could. This resulted in Harry jumping around the chamber. From the ground up to objects, aiming for a higher object each time and then from object to object. He did fall a few times, when assessing the distance wrong, but thankfully the chamber's floor accepted those tumbles as a sponge.

The objects, which were mostly broken and damaged furniture, were not as forgiving, and Harry bumped his head and limbs a few times roughly on protruding corners. It was when he was crouching down on a ledge some 6 feet off the floor when Jay called it quits. Harry glanced back at the table he had a had ran over in order to have the right momentum to make the nearly 10 foot leap, and thought amazed that he wouldn't have been able to jump that distance some weeks ago.

"Where's your wand?" Jay then asked, chasing a bit of the equilibrium away.

"What?" Harry asked, while shaking his head to get rid of the sound of his blood rushing through his ears.

"Your wand? How fast can you reach it. And come down that thing."

Harry left himself drop down to the floor, not forgetting to bring his knees upfront to bear the impact. He then walked over to where he had dropped his robes to get his wand out of its pocket.

"It's rather dumb to not have it on you, you know," Jay commented, but before Harry could defend himself, he continued. "Let's use the obstacle course now for defence. Do you know the Muggle game Paintball?"

Harry nodded bewildered. "Um yeah, Dudley did that for his twelfth birthday party. I was invited only as easy target, though they still only got me when they teamed up.'

"Who is Dudley?" Asked Jay as he levitated a few objects around to change the arrangement of the room and probably make it more difficult for Harry.

The dark haired boy faltered for a moment as he was once again reminded that Dudley might not exist in this world. His memories had to be so different from those of this world's Harry. He was lucky that Jay already knew about him.

"He is no one," he told Jay and then glanced around. "So, what is our target?"

"You can choose, we work together and let the Bludgers loose while trying to retrieve an object from the other side of the room. Or we are up against each other, start each on one side and have to reach the other's 'base'."

They picked the team play and stopped only when a Bludger grazed Jay's head and hit Harry full against his chest. The dark haired boy was still wheezing when they left the room and Jay walked slower on account of feeling dizzy.

He grinned at Harry though. "That was bloody awesome. Never had so much fun."

"Should we, I mean. Would it maybe be good if we had another person with us?"

"Like who?"

"Well, I dunno. Neville Longbottom?" Harry offered hesitantly. It had been something he had considered a great deal. Neville was after all the Boy-Who-Lived of this world. Adding him to the training would seem like a good idea.

"No way!" Jay said immediately. Harry was startled by his vehement rejection of the idea. "The guy is an arse. No offence, but he's got an ego larger than Wales and I'm not going to bother with that."

Harry shrugged. "No prob, It was just a suggestion."

In the dormitories, Harry took a much needed shower, before heading to the Library when he had arranged to meet up with Luna. He was earlier than he had expected, yet Luna was already there.

He took his books over to her spot. He sat down in front of her and as she glanced up at him, he grinned. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see him arriving early for a change and smiled back. "Hello Harry."

"Hey Luna. What are you working on?"

"Wrackspurts. It's a free assignment, though I doubt I'll get much credit for it. Professor Kettleburn will probably not accept it again, claiming I can't write it about something which he says is imaginary. Which is ridiculous, for how can he claim they do not exist, without having any proof of their non-existence?"

"Why are you writing it then? If you already know he won't accept it?"

"Because I want to."

Harry grinned at her answer. "You got anything good so far?"

"A bit," she answered. "It's hard to get information about, though my mother and father have send me some interesting reports about them.

___'Wait? Her mother is still alive in this world? Good for her!'_

"You know, they say you can see them with the aid of Spectrespecs," he told her and she stared astonished at him.

"Is that truly so? I never would have thought of that. Thank you Harry." She wrote it down and then commented offhandedly. "Your brother apologized for having called me 'loopy' in the past."

"Oh, did he really?" Harry guessed he shouldn't be surprised about that. The kid had a good heart. "And what did you say to him?"

"I told him I didn't mind it much, after which there was an uncomfortable silence. He then asked if he could sit beside me." She fixed her eyes on Harry, the usually glassy look was nowhere to be found. "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Harry shrugged. "Somewhat. I just asked him to tell me if he saw you were in trouble. Apologising and sitting besides you were his own decisions. He's really a good kid."

"I see."

"Have you ever seen a Therestral?" She suddenly asked.

Harry blinked startled and nodded. He should be used to her way of jumping from subject to subject by now.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?"

"Well, if you find the reptilian look to be beautiful, I guess. I just find them to be unexpectedly sweet. They seem so dangerous and scary at first glance, but are such gentle creatures."

"I agree. I wonder why we never have done them in Creatures class. Many won't be able to see them, but they can touch and feel them." She glanced knowingly up from her papers at Harry. "It's curious though that you can see them."

___'Curses, outed myself again. I really am a bad actor. Guess Ill never get to be a spy. Bye career as 007. Wait, Luna can see them too? In my world because she saw her parents die, who did she see dying here?'_

She answered him as if he had asked the question out loud. "My brother died as a toddler. I saw him drown in the pond."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Harry muttered sympathetic. Merlin, what was worse? Seeing your mother die in an explosion or watching your own baby brother die?

"I was supposed to look after him," Luna added distractedly, as she traced some lines on her paper with her finger. Harry felt the blood leave his face. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, not knowing what to say. Perhaps this really was worse.

"Oh, that is horrible," he finally said compassionate. This made her look up.

"Why?" She asked curious, which made Harry only confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You said that, as if that fact made the situation even worse. Are you under the impression that I am suffering from guilt over the fact that my brother died under my watch?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth again as a goldfish.

"For I am not. I did at first, but my parents were adamant about me not blaming myself. I was only a child and I was too far away from him to have helped. There was nothing I could have done."

"I see. They were right, you know," Harry said.

Luna smiled. "I know. Hough it's usually easier to say this to others than when it is about yourself."

They were silent after this, with Harry not knowing what to add to that and focussed their attention back on their homework. Harry was absent-mindedly staring in Luna's direction, while wondering if he could sneak out to fly with Jacob that evening, when she closed her book and asked the most unexpected question.

"Harry, are you in love with me?" Luna inquired, as if she was only asking what weather it would be that day.

Harry blinked furiously and felt the blood rush to his face. "Wha-what? Why are you asking me this?" He demanded to know.

Luna stared at his face for a moment and then gave a small nod as she seemed to reach a conclusion. "I thought as such. I was just wondering since people seem to mention than when you stand up for me. And I was wondering why you actually do that, while you do not think of me that way."

"Do what?"

"Protect me from bullies. You don't do that for others."

"Like who?"

"There are a lot of students in school who are being bullied, most even worse than me, so why are you only helping me?"

Harry laughed uncomfortable. "Would you believe me if I said it is because I know you from an alternate dimension?" he said jokingly.

Luna's stare stayed blank. "I would," she answered and smiled again. "Were we close in that dimension?"

Harry was unsure if she was simply humouring him or actually believed him. "Not really, I hadn't known you for that long." he answered honestly.

"That's a pity. Well, you get to know me closer now."

He smiled, she was amusing. "I suppose you're right."

"By the way," Luna suddenly said. "I quite often notice Draco Malfoy from Slytherin glaring at me. Usually when you are with me."

Harry frowned confused. "Really? Do you know why?"

"I am quite baffled. He never bothered with me before, so I wonder what makes him pay attention now." She glanced sideways at Harry, who was still frowning thoughtfully. "Maybe he wants something from me," she added.

"If you want to, I can talk with him. See what he is up to," he offered.

Luna waved vaguely with a hand and then smiled a knowingly. "Oh no, I don't think that will be necessary."

* * *

******To Be Continued**

**____****VGJekyll: **___Readers, I love you. Just felt like telling you. And I know there are probably some obvious mistakes in this chapter, but... yeah, no good excuse for that. I'm doing this maybe to half-heartedly. It's sometimes really difficult to get the motivation to write on this one. I miss Juu._

******[I Wish, I Wish – Cat Stevens)**


	39. Just Like You

**The Abuse in a Violently Different Dimension  
**_By VG Jekyll  
Not Beta-read_

* * *

**3****9****. ****Just Like You**

_We didn't understand the truth__**  
**__We were blinded by the eyes of youth__**  
**__But time kept on moving__**  
**__And a change has come__**  
**__You think that I don't know__**  
**__Where you're coming from_

* * *

It was morning and Harry had been chewing on some well buttered toast when the mail arrived. He usually received a letter from his mother once a week and lately also Sirius tried to write as much as he could.

Today he didn't see a familiar owl circling about, which meant no mail for him, so he snatched the Daily Prophet from where an owl had dropped it in front of Nathan. This was something which had become a bit of a habit.

Nathan didn't appear to mind it much today, as he was more interested in a triangular shaped package he'd received. Usually he would at least attempt to get it back. Or complain loudly that Harry should just get his own subscription to the paper.

Harry stared in dismay at the front page. It announced in large font that there had been another attack by what they assumed had been Death Eaters. The attack had similarities to the attack during Christmas. The only alteration was that the Aurors had been in time to help, instead of only arrive for the clean up.

There was still a long list of casualties and missing people right next to the article.

Harry quickly skimmed through the rest of the paper to see if there was any other mentioning of Death Eater activity. There wasn't, or maybe it had not been considered interesting enough in the shade of the front news.

He did take notice of a personal add with a photo of Dennis Creevey, asking if anyone had seen him or knew information about his whereabouts.

A strong sense of guilt filled him again, even though Harry knew there wasn't much he could have done. He had know the kid and his brother well in his own dimension. Colin had always seemed like a fixed presence together with his camera. In this universe, he couldn't even remember having seen him, or his brother for that matter.

Not far away from him at the Gryffindor table, Neville Longbottom had also got his hands on a paper. He stared grimly down at it and appeared to be in a bad mood. Not much later all the students who had seen their newspapers were talking loudly about the attack.  
Ron was waving his paper around and started boasting that if Voldemort was there right now, Neville would be able to handle him better than the Aurors.

Harry rolled his eyes at the childish way of thinking and was about to turn away from the clowns, when he noticed Neville slamming his paper down. He hissed something sharply at Ron and then stalked angry away. Ron was left staring after him, his mouth wide open in shock.

Harry was just as startled as the people around him. He already heard them talking about how even though Ron Weasley still hung out with the Boy-Who-Lived, the whole of Hogwarts had noticed that relations between him and Neville had been frosty lately.

The Hufflepuff quickly jumped to his feet and chased after Neville. The guy was fast, for Harry couldn't see him when he stepped out of the Great Hall, but thankfully the Grey Lady was hanging around and helpful enough to point him into the right direction.

He figured from the path he was taking, that Neville was heading back to the Gryffindor dorms. He started to jog in the hopes op catching up with him.

"Neville!" he shouted out, as he finally got a glimpse of the Gryffindor. The other immediately froze and glanced back at him. He looked very pissed off.

"Hey Neville," Harry repeated as he crossed the last distance between them. He send the other a concerned smile. "Are you okay?"

Neville shook shortly his head, seemingly confused as to why Harry had followed him and appeared so amiable while before he'd still kept his distance. Even their talk during Christmas hadn't made the dark haired boy warm up to him.

"No. I'm not," he answered shortly.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"What? You? Why would you, of all people, want to help me?"

Harry was silent for a moment. Perhaps he could've expected that reaction. "Because I care, okay?" He admitted. "You seem to carry a heavy weight and I know the feeling of people placing these expectations on you and not knowing if you can live up to it all."

All the air seemed to leave Neville's lungs at that declaration. He then gave him a short nod. He slumped against the wall and rubbed with his hands over his face. When he dropped his hands to his side again, a grimace tugged the corners of his mouth down.

"I haven't told anyone about this," Neville started to tell. "I thought it was better not to let people know, or show any weakness. But it's just really hard."

"Okay," was all Harry could bring out. He was worried for what he was going to hear. But he had offered to listen so he would have to deal with it and be kind about it.

"My-my aunt. She was there in Inverness during the attacks and she got killed."

_Oh..._

"We were close, you know. She was also my godmother and always said she would've been proud to have me as her own child. She was-she probably was tortured to death. When they found her body, it was mangled and twisted and sliced up." He sniffed and rubbed with a sleeve over his nose.

"I saw how they found her in a pensive. I wasn't supposed to see it, but they were trying to keep it a secret from me. And I hated that! There was so much blood. I still see her face in my nightmares, frozen in this agonizing soundless scream. It's horrible!"

Harry felt the blood leave his face. This was really bad. And for Neville to have walked around not being able to share his feelings and fears! Why hadn't he been able to share this with his friends?

"I know about those sort of dreams, I have them too." Harry admitted and came to lean against the wall besides Neville. He pushed his hands deep in his pockets and stared resolutely at the floor, even though he could feel Neville's questioning gaze on him.

"The images of people I once knew, dead or hurt in front of me. And I can do nothing. They plead me to help them, they curse at me for not being able too. People I loved lying around me, Death Eaters laughing at me and taunting that I was too late. That I will always fail my friends. My family. That it was my fault that my godfather fell through the Veil."

"The Veil?" Neville asked confused.

"Ah, uh yeah. That's nothing. Just something silly I made up in my dreams. Sort of a portal of death." Harry quickly invented.

There was a long profound silence after this, in which each mulled over the revelations of the other, until Neville finally interrupted it.

"You're not really Harry Potter, are you." He said. His voice was soft, but certain. "You can't be him. Are you an undercover Auror? An Unspeakable?"

Harry froze for a moment, shocked that yet another person had found out, then he just slumped and relaxed. Who cared anymore. He was a shitty actor and would not be able to keep it a secret from many people anyway. Better be honest and upfront about it.

"Yeah, I'm not him."

Neville, slightly dazed at that admission, shook his head. "You sound too old to be a student. You've seen war, haven't you?"

'I've seen a few battles, attacks really. Not war. Not yet." Harry pulled his hands out of his pockets and pushed himself away from the wall to face Neville fully. The other looked serious and very unlike the show-off he had been in the beginning. Perhaps this was what made Harry share his thoughts.

"But I think it's coming. And soon."

"Where's the real Harry?"

"I don't know."

"Oh," Neville was exceptionally accepting of it, thought Harry bewildered.

"I don't think I can do it," the Gryffindor confessed miserably.

"Do what?"

'Defeat Voldemort. I'm just a kid. How an anyone expect me to do this? Sure, I was but a babe when he first disappeared, but there is no real proof that it was because of me!"

This was something that had also been bothering Harry.

"But you're not alone in this," he told Neville, who scoffed at his words.

"I know exactly how many people I can count on to watch my back," he told Harry, a dark and glowering look on his face.

"I know how people think about me. I know politics. I'm nothing but a glorified punch dummy! The thing they throw in front of them in the hopes that someone will waste their energy on it, instead of on them." Like Harry he had pushed away from the wall and was now gesturing wildly. He took a deep breath before he continued ranting.

"My parents both hold high positions in the Ministry and I can tell you, they have absolutely no problem in using me to get themselves higher in the pecking order! I don't doubt that when faced with Voldemort, they would just push me to the front and tell me to make them proud."

Harry was about to argue that it couldn't be like that. That Neville had his friends to count on. But then he remembered that the other hadn't even been able to talk to them about his aunt, about his fears.

And then came the memories of his own years at Hogwarts in which it always had come down on him and his friends to defend themselves with no adult in sight to aid them. The Ministry had done nothing. Papers had called him a liar and attention seeker. No one had done anything against the looming threat of Voldemort. Attacks were glossed over as incidents.

"Well, you have me now."

"I-eh? What?" Neville floundered at Harry's words.

Harry grinned at him. "Well, if you get pushed to the front, I guess I'll just have to step up besides you."

The Gryffindor was silent for a moment as he appraised Harry and seemingly tried to gauge his sincerity. Harry simply raised a brow and that made Neville smile wryly.

"You would do that. I can see you doing that." Neville said and then let sort a short bark-like laugh. "You know how I knew you weren't him? Not only were you acting really weird, you have this... power around you. I can sense it, it feels like a prickling over the skin and a makes the hairs in my neck stand on end."

He shrugged. "It's something I've felt it with more people who are magically strong. At least stronger than most. But yours was so sudden, and I figured it could have been like a growth spur or something." He let his gaze glide over Harry, assessing again. "But I guess it wasn't. Who are you really?"

"I'm Harry Potter from another universe, who got send here by a freaky accident," Harry told him, wanting to stay truthful as he felt closer to the boy than he had previous thought he ever could. Neville was not how he thought him to be, which showed that Harry really should stop being so prejudiced.

"Really?"

"Really," nodded Harry.

"So, I guess I can keep calling you Harry then. Anyway, I don't have to tell you not to tell anyone about what I told you. And I'll do the same."

"Cross my heart..." Harry promised and made the corresponding motion with his hand over his heart. It made Neville chuckle slightly and do the same. It was like a promise between them.

"And hope to survive."

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

**VGJekyll:_ Hi! I'm still alive! I was inspired to write again by a film on Youtube called: '_**_**A Conversation with J. K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe****'.  
****Go watch it if you have time, it's very nice to see and listen to.**_

_**If you see spelling/grammar/other mistakes, please tell me!**_**  
**

[_Just Like You – Keb' Mo_]


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